Thankful

Last year we decided to create a thankful tree during the month of November, writing things we are thankful for on the leaves of a tree. We enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again this year. A special thanks to everyone who helped make our thankful tree so big and colorful this year. A few of the things we are thankful for this year: underpants (Jessica Murdock), opposable thumbs (Justin), going to Chuck-E-Cheeses (Jordan), my new piano (Beth), spoons (Jordan), the earth (Madison), Cougar football (Dustin Duckett), tables to dance on (Joshua), a Democratic president boosting gun sales (Mike Vause), Cherry Coke (Arianne Duckett), the Gospel (Renea Hansen), my school and my classmates (Madison), cake (Beth), holidays and family (Maren Holladay), email and cellphones (Janet Vause), my kids (Jacque McQuaid), food (Larry Hansen), eternal marriage (Phil Vause), and Jesus (Jordan). Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Cake Brag

Those of you who hate blogs that brag should immediately stop reading... I am just so excited about and of proud of my latest cake and can't help bragging about it.

Our friends, the Mitchells, were able to have their kids sealed to them last Friday in the St. George Temple. Huge Congrats to them!!! Justin went, but I wasn't able to because we didn't have anyone to watch the kids. Well, I really wanted to do something for them, so, of course, I made them a cake. It was so much fun! It gave me the opportunity to try a new technique (I have been dying to try it for weeks now) and I am so excited about the way it turned out! It is called a Frozen Buttercream Transfer, and basically it lets you recreate almost any image on your cake in buttercream. It took me 5 hours just to create the picture of the St. George Temple, plus time to bake, fill and ice the cake itself (cake decorating is definitely a time-consuming hobby)! Anyways... enough bragging. Let me know what you think!

Happy Halloween!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween! We went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat and then went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with some friends. When Josh realized that people were putting candy in his bag he started giggling and trying to grab the candy out of the bowls himself. The kids really enjoyed being pirates - saying 'aarrgh' and brandishing their swords. Justin and I had fun dressing up too (although I wished I had worn a short-sleeved shirt - it was 75 degrees and we were all way too warm!).

"Captain Slobbers"

"Captain Eyepatch"

"Captain LooseTooth"

Our Pirate Family

Our yummy mummy cupcakes! (Key Lime Cupcakes filled with Key Lime Mousse and covered in buttercream bandages)

Stop Growling Monster

This is Justin doing this post. I thought I would preface with that.

We went to Utah last weekend to attend the baby blessing of Beth's sister Arianne. The day we left to go up Jordan decided to run a fever. We didn't want to get the baby sick so I took Jordan up to Beth's mom's house to spend the night.

I woke up in the middle of the night to Jordan yelling, "Stop growling at me, monster!!"

I asked him what was going on and he said that there was a monster in the room growling at him. I asked if he wanted to get in bed with me and he did.

About an hour later he wakes me up again asking me why I am growling like a monster. I guess I was snoring and it sounded like a monster.

I have to say, I am pretty impressed with the boy because he didn't back down from that monster. He confronted that monster and told it to stop growling at him. What a tough kid.

Llamas speak Spanish

Conversation between Justin and the kids:
Kids: "Dad, what do llamas say?"
Justin: (not wanting to admit he has no clue) "Llamas say the same thing camels say - only in Spanish."
Kids: "So what does it sound like?"
Justin: "I don't know - I don't speak Spanish."

Justin's Birthday

Justin's birthday was last week (sorry I didn't post about it sooner - we've been without internet for the whole week). We had a few friends over and Justin's parents were also able to come down to help us celebrate. It was lots of fun! Here's Justin wearing his new football jersey and holding his cake:

Masterpiece

So, I walked into the playroom last night and discovered this beautiful work of art created by Madison and Jordan...

Quite the little Van Goghs, aren't they?