Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Choice

Your choices are yours and I know it's true,
So are the consequences they're just for you.
Choose wisely and see that you look to the end,
When your choices will count there'll be some you can't mend.
Don't be sad but remember we all agreed,
Free agency for all, we're the product of our deed.
Choose wisely today and tomorrow make amends,
For the choices you made that didn't make a good end.


Dec. 20, 2009
Melanie Howard

Feel the love!

In the car yesterday Damen says:

Knock Knock

Me: Who's there?

D: BE

Me: Be who?

D: Be quiet! Be quiet mommy!

OH fudge!

I often read the blog of this hilarious lady: DeNea at: http://thebackorderedlife.blogspot.com She has been posting this month about the joys of fudge and her everyday excuses to eat it. So this afternoon I thought to myself, why not make up a batch of fudge? I've made stuff before, and as a rule I'm pretty confident so this was my experience:

Recipe: put sugar and milk and something else (I'm sure) in your largest sauce pan = check.
Stir until boiling = check, well ok how long is this gonna take? Really, it's still not boiling yet. WAIT, SO exciting, it's boiling!

MOTHER OF SIN (yes I'm quoting Christi) it's boiling right out of my largest saucepan, should've been more specific there DeNea, like maybe: largest pan ever in the house, the one you use when making 10 qrts of freezer jam! I got the above mentioned pan out of the cupboard just in time and made the transfer. PHEW, mess and burning avoided!
Ok, what's next, continue boiling for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. What exactly does "constantly" mean anyway? Ok, I can do this, it's not that big a deal.
Minute 4: seriously, my arm is going to fall off! Switch arms, this is taking forever!
Minute 5: now this arm's going to fall off, what was that you said Damen? You're going to help Bambi find her mother, oh sweet! "yeah, I'm gonna find it and eat it HIYAA!!" What? How much longer?
Minute 6: will 9 minutes be enough? Should I include the minute before it almost boiled over into the equation? Really my arm is numb now!
Minute 7: that lady in the ward made some pretty decent fudge the other night, I wonder if she still has some. . .
10 minute boil & stir = check.
Now pour hot stuff over butter and chocolate = check.
Mix with mixer for 5 minutes, can do, again how hard really?
OK holding the electric mixer for that long is intense! My delicate frame was not cut out for such manual labor!
Mixed = check.
Now what sense does it make to pour this crazy good smelling chocolate liquid into a pan without tasting it first?? Could it really be that hot still, I mean it's been 5 minutes. . .

The recipe says to let it cool in the fridge then cut up, it should also include this option: Grab a spoon and hover over it until your tongue/lips/finger stop burning and you can taste it again or until your husband comes home and asks what's for dinner. Either way, it was AMAZING!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU DeNea Sorry about cursing/hexing you earlier with the pot size thing, it was totally worth it!!

Cheap deco

I needed something to decorate the bathroom with so I bought a bag of bells and a bag of christmas light garland at the Dollar tree. I cut up the garland and sprinkled everything into these different sized jars, there's also some nature in there too. I like it!



Check out




for more thrifty decorating!

It's Christmas time!

OH and Thanksgiving too!!

We drove to Washington to surprise my family. My Dad was really glad to see us, I don't think he stopped smiling for two hours after we got there! Mom knew because it was accidentally leaked to her, but it turned out ok, she was able to plan for a few more mouths to feed. On Tuesday morning our other sister that "wasn't" coming to Thanksgiving flew in to surprise every one too. We had so much fun!! Damen's cousins, otherwise known as "the boys" of course had a ball playing together. We ate turkey on Wednesday because Lori had to head home on Thursday. On Thanksgiving Day Dustin went with my sisters to play in the Turkey bowl, he came back breathing and barely limping so it wasn't too bad. Later that day Christi and Kari and I went for a drive and ended up at Dougan Falls. We hiked around, took pictures, and laughed a lot, it was great. Friday night I got to hang out with some old friends, catch up and see Jodi's husband's band. It was all very entertaining.
The drive was long and boring, next time I'll be prepared with some sewing, but it was worth a week with my friends, sisters, parents, grandparents, nephews, and brother-in-laws too!

View of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River.

The BOYS! Robert, Damen, Zack, Nick, Kaden.







It was raining during our adventure up to the falls, but we didn't care, we're true northwesterners! Well, sort of:)

Sea World again

We spent the day after I got back from Vegas with Dustin's mom, Marda and sister Terra and her little 1 year old cutie, Benjamin at Sea World. We had a great time until we went to see Shamu. Who knew that in November they'd still send the whales to splash the audience with such ferocity?? (I know there is a warning sign, it says "Splash Zone", but really in November?) We were soaked and Damen was terrified, he cried through the rest of the show, out to the stroller, and most of the way to the car. Poor kid, he'll never look at whales the same way again.


Dustin and Benjamin

Marda with Benjamin in the shark tunnel.

Soaking wet after the whale attack!

Terra with Benjamin, whales in the background.

Poor Damen, still sad, still wet!

Vegas

We went to Vegas a few weeks ago with our good friends, Ben and Tiffany. We stayed in a resort off the strip, but close enough to the action. We saw some amazing shows, ate delicious food, relaxed in the hot tub, and were involved in a "domestic"(prostitute) dispute. It was great!!
We saw the Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show, it was FANTASTIC!!

We also saw the body exhibit, a magic show,the mentalist show with Gerry McCambridge, and strolled down Fremont street. Tiffany won $90 and I scored about $10 on the slots, not big spenders here, we only gambled with $1-5 at a time. We ate at Samba, a Brazilian steakhouse with all you can eat meats, it was SO GOOD.
The domestic dispute went like this: "john" was staying in the room across from ours and he and his "lady friend"(who he was paying) got into it one night, the police and security were called and they were escorted out of the building.
All in all, it was a very entertaining week in vegas!