Rich People

Here's a funny conversation Rock overheard recently between Levi and Liberty:

They were talking about invisibility cloaks, as I am currently reading Harry Potter to them, and how they actually exist, but only for very small things right now. Levi said that even when they are able to make them bigger they'll be very expensive.

"Like, one hundred dollars!", said Liberty.

"No way, that's cheap, more like millions of dollars!", said Levi. "Only rich people could have them."

"So Donald Trump would have one. He's rich. He was a billionaire, and now he's the president, so he has tons of money," said Liberty.

"Yeah, he's rich, but there are richer people," Levi countered. "Like Bill Cosby."

"Bill Cosby?" Libby asked.

"Yeah, Bill Cosby started Microsoft, and he's the richest person in America." 

And there you have it.

Happy Thanksgiving and a Hamster

Tips for An Easy Thanksgiving Dinner:

1. Have one of your kids get sick so that half your guests decide not to come.
2. Assign out all the last minute food items that make you crazy and wish you hadn't offered to host after all like gravy and mashed potatoes so you don't have to worry about it.
3. Buy your rolls at Costco and your Pumpkin pie too.
4. Make sure your "fresh" turkey is really fresh and not half frozen.
5. Don't actually cook your turkey.

This year, thanks to a sick Libby we had just my parents, my sisters and us.  I planned it just right so I only had to worry about the turkey at the last minute.  I did not follow tip #4, unfortunately and when it came time to get the turkey ready, I realized it was partially frozen.  Sigh.  But it only bumped us back an hour and our turkey was cruisin along ready to be done in 2.5-3 hours.  At 2 hours I checked it in 5 different places and the temperature was 10 degrees higher than was recommended for a done turkey. Gasp! I texted our few guests, "The turkey is done early and you better get over here pronto!" and we scrambled to get the table set and the last few things done.  They rushed to get everything finished, arriving shortly thereafter and we proceeded to cut the turkey.  When Rock kept running into bone and couldn't find the meat we realized that we'd put the turkey in upside down and that it was not, in fact, cooked yet. Yes, we are turkey challenged.  Thank goodness for the microwave!  Our turkey was perfectly moist and miraculously tasted great despite our ineptitude.  Alli put it perfectly when she said, "This was the easiest Thanksgiving dinner ever.  You didn't even have to cook the turkey!" 

This one is blurry, but it's the only one we got that day.  Personally, I like the beautiful, healthy looking head of hair on the bottom right.  

Luckily the turkey turned out ok and we were not reduced to eating our new hamster.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We have a pet at our house.  Well, a pet more exciting than a fish.  Levi worked very hard and saved for a long time to buy a hamster.  It is the first exciting pet we've ever had and Levi is very proud of his Snickers. 

We are thankful for all our blessings this year.  Especially sunsets in Boise!

Fallishness

Here are some random fall happenings here at our house.

Raking Leaves

And we have a 15 year old!

 I've told him, we may be in Idaho, but he's NOT getting his license till he's 16.  There are no tractors on our property he needs to drive.

We are so excited to have a new temple less than ten minutes from our house!  The Meridian Idaho temple is opening in two weeks!  Our first time through the open house as a family was right after they opened and they were so concerned about getting enough people through that they only did silent tours and pushed us through in one big long line, not allowing us to really stop in any of the rooms or feel the spirit of the temple.  I was pretty bummed.  About a week later I was ushering at the temple and saw that they had changed how they were doing the tours. They were doing talking tours, letting people sit in the Celestial room for a bit, and explaining what each room was for.  I felt strongly that I should take each of my kiddos back through the temple open house on their own and make it a lunch date.  So I've checked each one out of school for lunch and the temple over the last two weeks!  It was a wonderful experience!  Such a tender mercy.  I hope they will cherish it as much as I did.    

The view of the mountains

 

I forgot my phone the day I  took Reagan.  :-(

 The beautiful Boise River Greenbelt

Levi wanted to go here on his date with me a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect fall day.

Liberty has learned to cross stitch!  She's done nothing but cross stitch since Sunday when I taught her.  She made the letters up herself.

Halloween 2017

Pumpkin Carving

Ever the nerd, Cade pulled out his calculator and protractor to design his pumpkin.

But he read something yesterday that made him feel better about his nerdness.

"Be nice to nerds, chances are you will be working for one someday."

Fastest carving on record!

And...the "funny pose"

Halloween!

We are down to two trick or treaters.  Levi was Coyote Peterson, a youtube sensation who finds crazy animals and insects to get stung by.  Levi thinks it's the coolest thing ever.  Ugh.

 Meow!

Picking through the fake spiders at the store for this find was not an experience I want to repeat.  

Ugh again.

Reagan took his little sister trick or treating and Levi got to go with friends while Cade went to his first "party". They all had fun and the littles got WAY too much candy.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch 2017

It's that time of year you all look forward to... when you get to see my cherubic little ones prancing around in a fall wonderland of pumpkins and corn, sweetly smiling at their mother in angelic cooperativeness as I take their pictures. Ok, so that's not how it works.  They are no longer chubby or cherubic (were they ever?) and they have never smiled sweetly in total cooperation.  It's more like they run around as fast as they can ignoring my constant pleas to "Hold still for ONE SECOND so I can get a picture for the blog, dangit!" Time marches on and they get older and older.  I wish they'd stop that.  But, here they are for your viewing pleasure. I might just add in some oldies just to remind you that they once were cherubic and chubby.

Back when they were chubby...and before they started asking to "do a funny pose" after every picture I take.

I could just eat them up, couldn't you?