Gingerbread Men

So, I began a project about a week or so ago. This "little" project was supposed to be a half day project. You know, the project that was on the small side. That teeny project turned into about three days.

As most of you know, Stephen and I got up way before the early crack of dawn to get ourselves a Christmas tree. As we are newlyweds and don't have every decoration that you have after being married, for say, twenty-six years. We decided that we would only buy a Christmas tree and make our decorations this year. This is where my little project comes in. I decided that I wanted to make gingerbread men to put on the tree.

I have never made gingerbread men before, so I got online to find a recipe. I have found this website for recipes that I really like, and so that was the first place that I looked. http://www.allrecipes.com/ Good site, check it out. Anyway, back to my gingerbread men. I wanted to get a recipe that was really bad, so that no one would have any temptation to eat them. I found the perfect recipe when I found this comment after the ingredients, "There is something wrong with this recipe! No eggs? I'm not certain, but it tasted so bad, I threw out the entire batter, after only baking 1 tray of the cookies!"

I had found my perfect gingerbread men!

There are a lot more things that you need to make these things than just a recipe. I didn't really think about the other things. You need cookie cutters and frosting and little baggies to put the frosting in to decorate. You also need those little tips for the frosting bags, but I forgot those. I did without and nothing was really straight, but oh well!

As I said, this project took me three days to complete, but it was really a lot of fun. I ended up having 92 gingerbread men on my Christmas tree. Here is the final look.

Kids are so smart

On Sunday my primary lesson was on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I was really excited going into the lesson because I had a really fun game prepared that I figured they would enjoy.

When I got to class, I knew teaching that day would be difficult. We had our first big snow the night before and ALL of the kids were so antsy to go out and play. Every time I asked a question that pertained to the lesson all of their little hands shot up. I soon began to realize that all of the hands just wanted to talk about the snow, not church.

I took out a picture of Christ. They picture is an artist's depiction of what it will look like when He comes again. Christ is coming out of the clouds surrounded by trumpeting angels and underneath Him is a desert land. As soon as I took out the picture, my little Jane raised her hand. I said, "Jane, does your question have to do with the lesson?" She said no, and so I told her to wait until after the first bell. When she figured out that I was going to skip over her, she said, "Wait! It has to do with the lesson." I gave in and let her have her say.

Jane went off for about three minutes about how one time she was riding in the car and she was looking at the clouds. She thought that one of the clouds looked like a man...I guess the picture must have triggered it.

Getting back on to the lesson again was a little more difficult. The kids were getting restless. My class clown, who I will call Sam, always seems to help with the restless, anti-pay-attention effort. Sunday was no exception. He had brought a long green ribbon that he tried to tie people up with. He only put the ribbon away after I threatened to tie the ribbon in his hair and make him look like a girl. That one worked. One point, Sister Post!

I continued to tell the kids about the Second Coming when Sam raised his hand. I looked at Sam and asked, "Does it have to do with the lesson?" He hesitated and said, "Well, it kind of has to do with the lesson. I just have a question." I was ready for him to say almost anything. Anything except for what he said. This was his question: "When Jesus comes again will anyone come with Him?"

I must say that I was quite shocked. I don't think that I have ever seen Sam be serious. I had to hide my surprise. I had actually never even thought of that before. I really couldn't answer his question. I told him to ask his Dad and that I didn't know. Wow, I really love teaching these kids. I going to be really sad when I lose them in January. :(

Go Long!

Last night Stephen and I went to Fred Meyer to purchase some Lego's. Long story, anyway Morgan, Stephen's friend, came with us. Let me just tell you...Lego's are expensive!

While we were looking for the perfect Lego's, Stephen and Morgan found random things in the kids isle to play with. The gold, however, was the football.

I really stink at sports. I've made a fool of myself, time and time again, just to prove to others that not all farm girls are athletic. Now don't get me wrong, I love to play sports, but I am horrible. No one ever wants me on their team.

As Stephen pulled the Nerf football from the bin he started to scoot back. "Kami...catch!"

I backed up, hoping that Morgan would catch the ball. No such luck.

Have you ever watched kids play ball? I mean, little kids. You know when they hold their hands out and they blink really fast, just in case they need to close them quickly. If the ball hits them in the head. That is what I looked like. And, of course, I missed the ball.

As the ball soared passed me I at least had my hands out with the idea of catching it. As I missed the ball, I heard someone chuckle to the left of me. I turned to see a man in his mid-thirties, trying to hide the fact that he was laughing at me. Just as I saw the man, Morgan was right behind me and said, "Hike!" As he 'hiked' the ball to me I again missed. The man to my left was going to lose all composure, so he quickly walked out of the isle. Stephen and Morgan didn't even see him as he snuck away.

Good thing I already have high self esteem and don't need others to boost me. Honestly though, it was pretty funny.

Glenn Beck

For those of you who know me very well, you know that I am a HUGE Glenn Beck fan. A while back I got Stephen to listen to him and has now come to the same conclusion that I have...Glenn Beck rocks. For part of my Christmas, Stephen took me to see his Christmas show. I have wanted to go to one of those shows forever. I was not disappointed.

One of the great things about Glenn Beck is that he tells things as he sees them. He doesn't have an agenda and he isn't looking to get people's praise. He just tells the truth. His latest project has been a book called The Christmas Sweater. For those of you who have never heard of this book, you should really get it. It is just simple and pure and true!

The show was just a stage view of the book. Glenn was basically showing the entire population of people that came to see his show that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real.

I just want to add my two cents in with Glenn. WE CAN BE WHO WE WANT TO BE!! WE CAN BE FORGIVEN AND WE CAN CHANGE. That is the TRUE message of Christmas. Christ was born so that He could die. For us. Remember.

Target

Yesterday, Stephen and I went to Target to get a few miscellaneous items, and somehow got lost. I know this sounds a little weird, but I turned to look at some movies and Stephen went to go get a cart. We didn't see each other again for another thirty minutes. Yeah, we were lost.

As I wandered around Target three times, I came across a little family. I passed a Dad pushing his cart following his little girl of about two to three years old. She was cute! The little girl was giggling profusely.

As I passed them and was well in front of them I heard the Dad say, "Olivia...lets see how fast you can run!"

Immediately I heard little feet begin to race across the floor, all the while she was still giggling. I was kind of giggling under my breath at her infectious laughter when I felt a little person run into the back of the legs. I turned around and saw the little Olivia. Her eyes were wide open in complete astonishment. You could tell there was a little bit of fear in her eyes. She had no idea who I was.

I looked down at her and smiled. "It's okay," I said.

"Sorry," she quietly said, as she ran back to her Dad.

Kids are so funny!

Oh, and don't worry, I found Stephen.

Why God Made Moms

I received this forward from my Mom this morning. To allow more people to experience this wonderful forward, I decided to post it on my blog. Enjoy!

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Black Friday

Wow...my husband is a GREAT holiday shopper. To begin our crusade we got home on Thursday night (technically Friday early morning) at 1:30am and set our alarm to go off at 3:30am. We had to make it to Kohl's for when they opened at 4:00am.

Well, our alarm did go off at 3:30, but our bodies didn't really register that it was going off until 4:00. WE WERE LATE FOR KOHL'S!! We threw on our clothes and ran out the door. We were off for our big adventure. This is our first Christmas as a married couple and so we wanted to start it off right. Black Friday.

As soon as we pulled into Kohl's we knew that our poor, tired bodies should have shaken awake at 3:30. That place was packed! We followed a couple of girls to their car so that we could have a parking spot. As soon as we parked we skipped our way into Kohl's to get our first official Christmas decoration...a Christmas tree! We had been shopping all over for the last two weeks to see if we could find a good deal on a tree. We finally found our deal at Kohl's. We purchased a seven foot pre-lit tree for $69.99. Wahoo! The seventy dollar Christmas tree was definitely worth the 30 minute line that we waited in to purchase our new treasure.

After Kohl's we dashed over to Target to get our fill of cartoon movies that were on sale from $3.00 to $13.00. As I have said in a previous post, Stephen and I love cartoons. I won't tell you how many movies that we purchased, or how much money we spent, but I am content. Oh, by the way, for those of you who read this that live in the Boise area, the Target on Eagle and Fairview is very disorganized on Black Friday.

Finishing our second feat, we raced to Fred Meyer for their famous sock and slipper sale. After going to Fred Meyer on Black Friday, I decided that that place is where I will go first. At least I will be there when it first opens. They had the best sales. You really wouldn't think so because normally they are so expensive, but that is not the case on Black Friday. We are now stocked up on socks and have fun slippers for both of us.

All in all I think that Black Friday was a lot of fun. We talked to quiet a few people who also had dark circles under their eyes and were sleep deprived. Yeah for people who have the Christmas spirit on Black Friday!

When we walked in the door after our excursion, Stephen said, "I want to wear my new slippers." I immediately told him, that it was for Christmas and would have to wait until then to wear them. He wasn't too happy with that, but it's for Christmas! Boys...I have decided that it is VERY difficult being married and keeping presents secret. We both kind of ruined a few secrets just because we couldn't really get away from each other. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the presents.

To finish up where I left off, Stephen is a GREAT holiday shopper. Last night we went out to eat at one of Stephen's favorite places, Taco Del Mar. The entire time we were there, I was just gabbing on about this and that. I stopped after a bit and realized that Stephen wasn't participating in the conversation and had a dazed look in his eye. I said, "Stephen, what are you thinking about?"

He said, "Oh I was just thinking about Black Friday and hoping that we hit all of the sales that we wanted."

Again I say, my hubby is a great shopper.

Thanksgiving!

I LOVE the holidays. I love the feeling, the fun, and basically everything that comes with it. In celebration of this holiday I just wanted to list ten things that I am grateful for.

1. My AMAZING husband. He is so patient and kind. Stephen has a huge heart that is always keenly aware of those around him.
2. The gospel. I am so grateful that I have a knowledge and a testimony that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and has a plan for me.
3. My parents. They have worked very hard to raise me the way that I am. They gave me so much love and just enough discipline that somehow, I turned out alright.
4. My siblings. My brother and sisters are my best friends. They are always there for me whenever I need them.
5. Stephen's family. I think that Stephen's family is finally beginning to understand who I really am and they still seem to like me! They took me in as one of their own and have loved my like a daughter/sister.
6. Our home. We have been blessed with the opportunity to have something that is finally ours to take care of and we are SO grateful. I love having a place to call my own.
7. Our ward. We have such a welcoming ward that has been so much fun. They really are turning out to be a real ward family.
8. My primary class. There really is something special about a group of little kids who know your name and always want to say "hi" when they see you. It gives you those warm fuzzies.
9. Friends. I have really been blessed with people all over that I can call my friends. They are all such good people and are really fun to be around.
10. Grandma Donna. Even though she sometimes drives me crazy, I love her. I am grateful to have been born as her granddaughter.

The Feeding Frenzy

Stephen's brother, Brandon and his wife, Mitzi (who also happens to be my cousin) came up to visit this week. They got here on Saturday and will be here the rest of the week. In order to help out and be a part of everything, Stephen offered to have dinner at our house last Tuesday. "Kami can make her famous chicken cordon bleu!"

My niece, Samantha, when asked if she wanted to come to Uncle Stephen and Aunt Kami's, said: "Absolutely not! They don't have any fun toys." For those of you who know Sam, you can just hear here say it. When previously coming to our house, Sam couldn't find any dolls or frilly dress up clothes. Sorry Sam! Stephen and I don't have any little ones running around to entertain.

In preparing for this event we made sure that we had SSOOOO much food...just in case. What if someone just happened to invite thirty more people? Well we definitely had the food to feed them.

It was so much fun just preparing for the dinner. I worked on the chicken while Stephen made the jello salad, made to rice, AND made the honey mustard sauce for the chicken. MY HUBBY IS AMAZING!!! We worked together in the kitchen and made our masterpiece.

Thanks everyone for visiting our home and eating our food! It was TONS of fun!

Primary Fun-ness-ship

Just to let everyone know. I'm not a huge fan of doing sharing time. It is WAY more difficult to get 40+ kids to listen to you than 6. I will never complain about my class again...maybe.