Halloween 2010

This week was a lot of fun. It started with an early Halloween party at the USU Field House for the kids. Then the girls also got to head to “Nana’s” (Grandma Linda) house for some holiday fun like decorating a candy haunted house, painting pumpkins, and eating pumpkin cookies. Later in the week carved pumpkins at our house. And after carving a traditional Jack-o-lantern for Ru, Adam broke out the power drill and made a polka-dot-pumpkin for Viv. It was a big hit.

On Friday, we went to Advent Creative’s 4^th annual Halloween party. The costume contest was intense, as usual. I’m always impressed that people go all out. Adam and I went as H.I. McDunnah, Edwina, and Nathan Jr. from Raising Arizona. Bailee, our babysitter, asked if people would recognize who we were. I thought that it would be terribly obvious, but when we got to the party, less than half of the people there had ever seen the movie. Boo. I guess we are getting old and Raising Arizona is a generational show that has past its prime. Too bad. Oh well, I still thought our costumes were funny.

We spent the holiday cleaning out the garage and house and trying to keep the kids at bay as they waited patiently for the moment of trick-or-treating. Olivia chose to be a "Vampire Princess" for Halloween and did her face make-up all by herself (she was so proud). Ruby wanted to be a "Princess Unicorn". The blended costumes were adorable, and the girls felt so cool. Sonoma and I weren’t feeling well, so we stayed back while Adam took the girls around to the Morse’s, Kidd’s, and a few houses in our neighborhood. We finished the evening at my mother’s house where she had prepared a Halloween feast. It was a great day.

I splurged this week after being completely sold on a product. It will be my birthday and Christmas present and a few other things as well, but I was sold. It is a Blendtec. You can check out some of their viral marketing youtube videos by searching “Will it blend” (they blend things like marbles, an iphone, etc.). It is insane. So far, we have LOVED using it. It makes hot soups, icecream, peanutbutter, juice, smoothies, grinds wheat, etc. The clean up is incredibly simple as well. I am a big fan. It really helps if you are serious about eating a lot of produce, raw food, and “real” food...which we are. This morning (while I stayed in bed sick) Adam made 6 loaves of banana bread, and an amazing “Fall Harvest Vegetarian Risotto” (See photo above and recipe below). It was delicious!

Fall Harvest Vegetarian Risotto

1 cup hot water

1 small can tomato paste

6-8 roma tomatoes, diced

3 cloves garlic

1 red onion

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 green pepper (whole)

¼ cup chives

2 large carrots (cut into chunks)

¼ cup pepper jack cheese

6-8 cups cooked rice

3 cups black beans (warm)

In a powerful blender, combine everything but the rice and beans. Blend until smooth. Pour over rice and beans in a pot and heat (unless you have a Blendtec, in which case, it will already be hot!). Garnish with chives and grated cheese. Can be served with tortilla chips. (The blended ingredients will be mostly raw). Enjoy!

Fall Has Fallen

I went on a run up Logan Canyon yesterday. I usually listen to music to keep my pace as I run, but as I found myself deeper and deeper into the brilliantly painted fall hues of crimson and yellow, I started feeling like I was breaking some sacred law by having my ears plugged as I ran through the forests. So I turned off the tunes and unplugged when I got to my turn-around point. The half-hour run down the trails through the canyon became an amazing and spectacular gallery of God's work...I was completely inspired and mesmerized. What an amazing place we live in.

The past few weeks have been fairly eventful. Here's a quick update.

A few weeks ago Holly and I put on our teenage faces and took off to a James concert in SLC. It did take us back to younger days before our gray hair and wrinkly skin ... James performed fantastically.

I spent the last month working longer hours than ever in my life. We even managed a 23 hour shift one day in order to get all the work done for a particular client who was having a huge convention and needed 150+ designs (print pieces, web pages, promo stuff, etc) to be pumped out beforehand. It was out of control, but we managed to get everything done and the convention was a smashing success. Phew!

Because everyone around us knew that Holly was living life as a single mother during that period, my oh-so generous brother, Sam, invited Holly to go down to Salt Lake to the Grand America for a weekend of luxurious pampering and exquisite food, together with a few of my sisters and Sam's wife, Kristen. Kristen calls these events "TLC", which stands for Total Luxurious Care, and boy did Holly soak it up and love every second of it! She and I are totally indebted to them for that (since I was a neglectful husband working late every night).

A few weeks ago we also got to run with our little family in another race for Holly's friend who has cancer. It was in Kaysville. The girls ran a 1 mile fun run while I did a 10k. Olivia actually made it the whole mile by herself! Later on we went down to a Real Salt Lake game with Holly's sister and husband (Kristen; Marshall), Holly's brother who was visiting from NC (Jackson), Holly's sister-in-law (Jen), Holly's sister's boyfriend (Rick) and all our little munchkins. It was a great game ... and even the very most nosebleed seats are perfect at that stadium. Fun indeed.

Two days ago Holly presented at a conference (ITESOL) in Ogden with her sister Kristen about a human rights curriculum that they developed for their ESL stuff at USU. And yesterday Olivia was in the USU Homecoming parade on the Cache Children's Choir float. She was quite the adorable little tot in her red stocking hat and red shirt, rolling down the street hitting sticks together and singin' her lungs out. Ruby, in the meantime, stocked up on gobs and gobs of candy being tossed along the side of the street. Dreams do come true now and then.

We also cleared out our garden yesterday in preparation for winter. We unearthed quite the wagonful (see photo) of veggies. Gardens are one of the most fulfilling activities one can do with a small family and a little plot of land. They teach so many important life lessons and provide healthy, local produce right in our own backyard (literally!). It's so valuable for kids to discover and understand where food comes from, how it grows and then watch as it becomes their supper. Viva la local food!

Recipe of the Week (errr, month...heh): Sweet Potato Fries (we LOVE these)

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into wedges
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Set your oven to 450 degrees, cut your sweet potato(s) into wedges, like fries from a fast food joint, sprinkle with salt, oil and any spices you'd like, then bake until browned - usually appx 20 minutes.