Abundant Recompense Copy

5 steps guaranteed to get you in the mood for Halloween: #1: Stand back and appreciate the spooky things you already have. Athena may be my archenemy, but she is a black cat. Our house, being from the 1800s, is pretty scary, but it came with a bonus: a mural of an owl on Addison's wall. We can't decide whether to keep it because of the major work someone put into it (and because it's cool in a strange way), or to paint over it. Let's just say that owl ain't from Winnie the Pooh. #2: Make ghosties out of tissues. I thought Add wouldn't care about them, so I made them solely for my own selfish benefit, but every morning he takes great pleasure in batting them around before we leave his room. #3: Carve pumpkins for FHE We watched the Charlie Brown about the Great Pumpkin, and then popped in a CD of Vince Guaraldi (the guy who writes the Charlie Brown music) and went to town on our pumpkin. This is actually the first time we've carved pumpkins together, and I d...

Yurt (n): a circular domed tent of skins or felt stretched over a collapsible lattice framework and used by pastoral peoples of inner Asia ; also : a structure that resembles a yurt usually in size and design. Last week, a nice lady in the ward took Michelle on a hike up by Snowbasin, and showed her a super cool yurt maintained by the forest service. We went up on Saturday, and I am sold. We gotta come back and go camping here sometime - they have a stove, wood, sleeping pads, and chairs. It's called a "churt" (a cheap yurt) because it's free for whoever wants to pack their stuff in. Inside the yurt. It warms the cockles of my heart that someone said, "I think I'll build and maintain a sweet camping place for my Utah friends," and they did. Beautiful surroundings. Michelle spotted this insanely large hornet nest. About as big as a basketball. Glad it's abandoned. We forgot the baby carrier, but Add did just great on our shoulders. He would periodic...

Against all odds, we actually finished a project we started. It only took a month and a half and WAY more hours than expected, but the results are better than I expected. Check out the buttons. Before (Get your very own at the DI for $17.50. You're probably wondering why we even wanted to reupholster this baby) During After N.B. I will never reupholster a piece of furniture again. Ever. If I ever even entertain the notion again, please shoot me with a staple gun.

Last night for family night we frosted Halloween cookies. I think this is the third year we've done it, and it's become a tradition. We plopped Addison in his walker and let him scoot around the dining room (and eat a little frosting) while we went to work. And I must say we had some masterpieces this time around. Traditional jack-o-lantern faces "Art cookies" all by Nate. The only recognizable one is the one on the right; a world map. Sesame Street series: Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Big Bird Spooky Halloween ones. My favorite is the "Boo!" on the top left (also by Nate.) See if you can find the mustache man, cyclops, devil, vampire, and wicked witch of the west.

It's official, Addison is turning into a real boy! He has recently become a champion at "roll the ball" (or the acorn squash as the case may be.) And he's also quite the conversationalist.

And Nate sat in it in the middle of the night. And Addison has managed to go #2 in the tub not once, not twice, but three times in the past week. Sigh.

Three weekends ago, I went with my sisters Shauna and Rebecca to the General Relief Society meeting of our church. It's a yearly meeting of the women's organization of our church in which our leaders address us and give us counsel. It's broadcast all over the world and usually we just watch it on t.v., so it was a special treat to actually attend the meeting live in the conference center in Salt Lake City. Anyway, one of my greatest philosophical musings these days is about the intrinsic value of womanhood. I feel like women are different than men (in more ways than the obvious) and have, as a whole and as individuals, their own unique characteristics and instincts that, when developed and brought to light, compliment those of males. And vice versa, of course. I think that men and women should be equals in this respect: that they have opportunities to develop those unique traits. I feel like women do generally have the opportunity to do that, but that society, for whatever ...

Yesterday I made up a new game called "Roll the Baseball Down the Toy Box." It is a big hit. And it made up for the two milestones Addison has reached in the last two days: 1. Eating cat food 2. Going #2 in the middle of his bath.

Today is laundry day and I just finished folding a huge mountain of winter clothes for Addison that I dug out of the loft this weekend. As the manager of our family finances, I have been feeling particularly impoverished lately. But as I folded the last little pair of overalls and wondered how I'll ever fit it all in his dresser, I realized that things are going to be okay. And I felt really grateful that I was sitting in the middle of a giant mound of warm and good-lookin' clothes not a single article of which we bought . And we have more than one option of what to have for dinner tonight, and it's not even going to be beans and rice. I am blessed.

First, you need to understand that fall hasn't even really hit yet. I mowed the lawn yesterday. The leaves on our trees are still green. Now, behold what we woke up to this morning: (The photographer is safely behind the screen door) Then it snowed all through church, and our friendly neighborhood ward members had to push us out of the parking lot. Then it snowed all afternoon. If this keeps up, we're putting the house up for sale and going to find work at the University of Hawaii. Final damage? Over 12 inches of snow, and Nate breaking down and deciding Athena could be an inside cat for the winter. Any advice on where to put the cat box? And here's the obligatory picture of Add, all duded up in his vest from great-great aunt Beverly.

This past Saturday we had an adventure called Addison's first football game. Micah (Lindsey's boyfriend) and his family offered us some free tickets to the BYU game, which we obviously could not pass up, despite the forecast of snow. We rushed around getting things done around the house that morning, and then ran out the door around 11:00, only to find (when we were already halfway to Provo) that the game was at 4:00, not noon like we thought. But it was a welcome surprise, because it gave us an excuse to hang out with Uncle Doug and Aunt Shauna and Aunt Beck before the game. Addison loves Shauna and Doug's kitten, Molly. Addison did great at the game. The weather was really cold, but we bundled him up like a little Eskimo. He was in a shock-like state for most of the game because of the noise, all the people, and Mommy and Daddy's constant (and no doubt annoying) adjustment of all his winter gear, but I think we made a BYU fan out of him for sure. Bundling up The trek ...

I love the ten-month Addison! He is a blast and we have too much fun together, I'm sure. It's so gratifying to actually be able to see him learn new things. He's picked up on clapping lately and does this awesome cheerleader move which we have yet to catch on video. And he's finally figured out how to go down the stairs, which is a relief. We'll be playing in his room and all of a sudden he'll stop whatever he's doing and start backing up the bus. He'll then crawl backward until he gets out his door into the hallway, do a 360 to get his bearings, and plow right over the edge of the stairs feet-first. I think that is hilarious. And I think it's a big deal that in the middle of playing with blocks or chewing on his stuffed cat's purple nose (which he seems to be fond of) he'll just get an urge to go down the stairs, and then he'll do it! And adding to his irresistibility, he loves books, crawls like a monkey, and has a favorite blankie. Ad...

Two days ago, Addison and I decided that we needed to get out of the house and fill our lungs with fresh air. So I strapped him in the stroller and we were off. We made it across the driveway and into the yard, headed for the sidewalk, which starts at the neighbors' house. I was enjoying the sunshine and scenery so much at this point, that I forgot about the invisible trench of death in our side yard. It's only about two inches wide and the depth is still to be determined. My guess is that it probably ends somewhere in the middle of China. But you can't see it, because it's covered in grass. Anyway, I managed to plant the front wheels of the stroller into said trench without noticing and then keep walking long enough to realize that the stroller wasn't moving anymore, lose my balance, and go toppling over ON TOP of the stroller containing my ten month old child. Try to picture it - front wheels where they'd been the whole time, the rest of the stroller flipped f...