Cats & Cookies

Silly story but I don't want to forget it so I'm posting it here. A dear friend of mine who is a mega-successful government contractor was in town last week and stopped by to visit. I haven't seen her in over two years so as you can imagine we spent a big chunk of time getting "caught up." In the middle of some brilliant, sparkling conversation my friend says, "Is that cat supposed to have a cookie?" I was so embarrassed - there was Zoe walking around with a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie in her mouth. I didn't think that my cats jumped up on the counter to fetch food - apparently that was naive. Wished I could have caught the moment when she was actually carrying the cookie in her mouth. Bad Zoe!

Happy Birthday Michael Jon

What does 53 feel like? It feels like a lot of love and a lot of family. We celebrated Michael's birthday Sunday with homemade Cafe Rio pulled pork salads; German Chocolate cake; Wii Super Mario Tennis; some Karioke; and the showing of Ice Age 3! Whew! We also need to mention the new BYU tie - now Jim Taggart and Austin Spencer won't feel so alone at Church! It was a great evening - wish the entire family could have been with us. Happy Birthday Wonderful Man!

Halloween 2009

We celebrate Halloween with a family party that includes creepy-sounding treats, games and costumes. We always try to have the shin-dig (love that word - I'll have to look up the meaning someday) the Saturday before Halloween and this year was no exception. I have no pictures to share because Carly took them and I am waiting for her to shoot them over. Once I get them, I'll post a post-Halloween (haha) photo album!

So that leaves the real deal - Halloween. It's pretty grim around here. It's a dark area of town, no sidewalks and cheap treats (that would be us) so there's no real incentive to trick-or-treat on our street. However, we did get a visit from Carly and an unknown Power Ranger. Also once the 9 or 10 trick-or-treaters stopped by, we did head over to my friend Carolyn's mom and dad's house for some homemade donuts and hand-pressed apple cider. What a great tradition they've got going. Good memories!

2009 Soup Throw Down

The Second Annual Soup Throw Down ala Bobby Flay was held at Angie and Darin's house in October. Competition was stiff from the varied entries. Thanks to everyone for humoring me and telling me that the Hangover Soup was good. The undefeated champ of the Throw Down two years in a row is....Andrea - with her Creamy Chicken Wild Rice soup. I've posted the recipe on the side bar of this blog. Congratulations Andrea!

She always has been a great cook. I remember the time when I was working at Layton Hills Mall and Andrea called to ask me if I wanted her to make cookies (I had forgotten) for Ethan to take to his cub scout meeting - she was, like, 11 years old. Keep cookin' good lookin'!

Ta-Da! I'm Done!

Carter and I caught the Trax in Sandy and decided to have an adventure walking around Temple Square. It's always a mixed-bag of characters on Trax, but we arrived safely downtown and headed right to the reflection pond. After some photo op moments, Carter caught the eye of two Sister Missionaries. He showed them how fast he could run and when asked... said that he was going to serve a mission when he was older. We headed back to the train and our car. It was in the car, on the way to the pumpkin patch, that Carter started asking baby questions - Oh. no.

He asked if there was a lot of blood when babies are born. I hemmed and hawed but finally told him that when a baby is inside it's mom it is like living in a swimming pool with special water. As the baby grows it get too big for the swimming pool and so when it's time to be born the baby goes down a slide and out of the mommy with the swimming pool water. I glanced in the rear view mirror to see his reaction of my explanation. He looked me right in the eye and said, "Hmmm. That's it. I went through the slide and Ta-da! I'm done!"

Whew. Dodged that bullet.

Air Force Buddies

Being the wonderful "Papa" that he is, Michael planned an afternoon at the Air Force Museum for two of our grandsons. They had a wonderful time - except that Carter did not want to dress up in the astronaut costume. Michael packed a picnic lunch, spent most of Saturday chasing two scalawags and bought those lucky boys die-cast jet planes!

Sigh!

It occurred to me the other day that every time Michael gives me a hug... I sigh. There's just something about the way he gives a hug. He really hugs - not that loose-arm-pat-pat kind of hug but a real honest-to-goodness squeeze. Ahhhh! I love that man and his hugs.