Shoutout to Sis. Morris

At our ward "Halloween" party last Saturday, they had a chili cookoff and lots of cornbread--and the cornbread was AMAZING! I went back for more--it was late, because we were late to the party and then I had to feed little Yoda before I could eat--and there was nothing but crumbs left. :'( I asked a couple people if they knew who made it; they didn't. And since I'm a primary teacher now, I feel rather cut off from adults in general on Sundays, so I didn't expect to find out.

Then today I was blog-hopping, and I looked at Sis. Morris' blog. She's always doing fun projects and posting delicious-looking recipes. Guess what I found?

Cornbread preparations for 150! (Entry from before the party.)

YESSS!!!

Really, I should have known she would be the one who made such deliciousness. She doesn't seem to have comments enabled, so I couldn't thank her there. So, if you see this, Sis. Morris, thanks for going to all the trouble to make that cornbread! And thanks for putting the recipe in cyberspace so I could find it and make that cornbread AGAIN and AGAIN!

On a totally unrelated note, I and about 50 other costume-makers--most way more talented than me--were featured on http://www.makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/, in my case for the Yoda headpiece! I sent in pics for the virtual costume parade she hosted. There are some really funny and creative costumes on there. Check it out! :)

Couldn't wait

Quite honestly, I don't think these pictures came out well at all. (I.e., I think I look bad. Jason and the baby look good.) But still, Star Wars is Star Wars, and Jamie is Jamie, and they're just better when you put 'em together.

Bragging moment: I made the headpiece, and I found the robe (from the costume you can get in stores) at a thrift store for $2! So total cost, instead of nearly $22, was probably more like $5.

WOO!

My bro took some pictures on his camera, which I will steal when he gets back to town on Sunday. But for now, here's some Halloween fun!

Rob let us borrow his quite expensive, collectible, realistic-looking and -sounding light saber, and when we did trunk-or-treating out in the dark parking lot, Jason ended up in a few duels with little Star Wars fans. He also had a nearly-constant entourage of little admirers hovering around him. (Or rather, the light saber did.) All these boys wanted to hold it, have their picture taken with it...so funny. The duels were so dang cute, I think Jason made those boys' day! (And looked cute and sexy doing it, I might add. ;))

Happy Halloween week!

Dedicated to "Twilight" fans everywhere

Click to enlarge.

Less than a month til New Moon comes out!

9 month stats

I forgot to do this yesterday!

Weight: unknown again. I'd say at least 20 pounds.

Height: none. His doctor's appointment is in two weeks, & he's too wiggly to measure by myself.

Sleeps: usually every two hours, takes naps that are 1-2 hours long. Sleeps 12 hours at night.

Eats: too much to name, really. I'm getting baby food in jars for free now, and of the ones he's tried, he's liked all of them. Does not like peas or plain avacado.

Says: Ba ba ba. A lot.

Can: Sit up, clap his hands (not well yet), wave hello (or at least wave), scoot all over the house, get up on all fours and rock forward (very close to crawling), loves to climb over or into low things, gets stuck periodically in chair legs or the bottom of shallow baskets and then starts squawking. Sad, but humorous at the same time. :D

Tagged for the Couples' Quiz--more than you ever wanted to know about us!

♥ What are your middle names?
"Anne" and "Robert."

♥ How long have you been together?
Since June of 2006, married since March 2007.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About a month. We were almost best friends during that time. Jason liked me, but I didn't like him "like that" at first.

♥ Who asked who out?
That's kind of a long story. As I came to the realization that I really "liked" Jason, the girl every guy in the ward wanted swooped in and stole him from me. (Well, he wasn't mine yet, but still.) Then, when things weren't going well between them, I moved in. >:D

♥ Who made the first move?
I flirted with Jason with an abandon that I hadn't before after he and Sarah weren't working. He got it, started spending more time with me, and then, while watching a movie, I got tired of games and just cuddled into him. We were together from then on.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
Yes. We met at BYU-Idaho.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No, just same home state. I'm from Northern Cal, Jason is from Southern.

♥ Who is the smartest?
We're both smart in different ways, sometimes similar ways.

♥ Who majored in what?
Psychology for both--with my minor in marriage and family studies, and Jason's cluster in marriage and family studies, and Spanish.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
We're both sensitive, but I get offended and upset more easily.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Hmm. Probably Taco Bell.

♥ Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Wisconsin. (Exciting, huh?)

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Definitely me. Jason is a good match for me because he's so easy-going.

♥ How many children do you want?
4 or 5, probably.

♥ Who does the cooking?
Me. Jason used to cook for me and even for my entire apartment when he was trying to get me, but that has died now. :) (He does cook turkey burgers when we have them, though.)

♥ Who is more social?
Probably me. It's close.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
It varies. We both like to be neat, but since we have so little room right now, it's harder to keep things tidy.

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
Ha. I'm stubborn about more things, but Jason is very competitive, and I think that's a form of stubbornness.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Lately, Jason has been getting up for the first round with Jamie. I really appreciate it.

♥ Where was your first date?
As I said above, we got together in kind of a weird way. I don't know that we had an official first date, and I like it that way.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
There are mom, dad, and three kids in both our families. Maybe mine, because my parents have three cats. :)

♥ Do you get flowers often?
No. We are po. Flowers are beautiful, but they are expensive and don't last long.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Watching Christmas movies and TV specials, listening to Christmas music, eating way too much delicious and non-nutritious food, etc.

♥ Who is more jealous?
Usually me. I don't like hearing about any other girl Jason ever liked, because I want to be the only one, ever. :)

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Not long. We dropped the L-Bomb (saying "I love you") after a couple of months and had a date set at the temple after four or five. We had some difficulties in between, though.

♥ Who eats more?
Lol. ...Oh, that wasn't rhetorical? Jason.

♥ What do you do for a living?
Keep sucking up to our parents so they'll let us keep living off their living until we can make our own living. :D

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
Both of us. We hate folding it, though.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
We're each good at different things.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Jason. He likes to. It's a man thing.

♥ What is "your" song?
I think I decided this, but "The Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts. We also like "Ave Maria" because it was playing when Jason proposed.

I tag: Robin Leach, Christy Ramsdell, Jackie Fisher, Kim Richman, Shara Pack, Heather Petersen, Adrienne Dial...and EVERYONE else who wants to! Seriously, I'd love to read everyone's stories!

And FYI, it's been fun to go back to all the mushy stuff and think about "us" as in two instead of three. Might get you in a romantic mood. ;) Happy Friday!

Couples' Quiz--Blank for your convenience

(As in, if you wanna take it, you won't have to delete my answers.)

♥ What are your middle names?
♥ How long have you been together?
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
♥ Who asked who out?
♥ Who made the first move?
♥ Did you go to the same school?
♥ Are you from the same home town?
♥ Who is the smartest?
♥ Who majored in what?
♥ Who is the most sensitive?
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
♥ Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
♥ Who has the worst temper?
♥ How many children do you want? 4-5
♥ Who does the cooking?
♥ Who is more social?
♥ Who is the neat-freak?
♥ Who is the most stubborn?
♥ Who wakes up earlier?
♥ Where was your first date?
♥ Who has the bigger family?
♥ Do you get flowers often?
♥ How do you spend the holidays?
♥ Who is more jealous?
♥ How long did it take to get serious?
♥ Who eats more?
♥ What do you do for a living?
♥ Who does/did the laundry?
♥ Who’s better with the computer?
♥ Who drives when you are together?
♥ What is "your" song?

Apple Hill

Here's where we went today!

Except, you might not guess it, since there are no apples in the pictures. :D

But I was so excited to get some pictures of Jamie in a pumpkin patch! I'm no professional, but I like the way they turned out. Pumpkin patches (or displays of picked pumpkins) make such good autumn picture backdrops. Oh, and props to my mom, who knitted the adorable sweater he's wearing. I picked out the buttons, and the yarn, which matches Jamie's beautiful eyes. Yay me. :)

And may I just say, Boa Vista Orchards apple cider from Apple Hill is like instant, delicious autumn in your mouth. (They should be paying me.)

"In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth"

Usually I feel a little sad that I don't have sisters, but at the General Relief Society Meeting broadcast a couple of weeks ago, I remembered that I have millions of sisters, all over the world.

I was just thinking about it again tonight, and I wanted to share how much it meant to me to be gathered with women throughout the world to hear wise and uplifting counsel, and to strengthen each other to face our challenges.  If you missed it, I highly recommend watching it online, and may I suggest that there is a spirit present when you actually go to the stake center to watch it--sitting with your sisters, knowing that millions are listening to it in other stake centers at the same time, singing the hymns together--that's hard to get by reading or watching it later.  Try to get there next time--you won't be sorry!

One of the hymns sung was "How Firm a Foundation," and there were some particular lines that meant more to me than they ever have, given our present situation.  As I sang, I felt the Spirit bring incredible warmth to my heart, and I knew that no matter our circumstances, the Lord watches over my family, loves us, and is aware of our trials.  I could hardly finish the song.

If you're like me, and maybe hadn't thought too hard about the words of that song before, maybe you'd enjoy listening to it now. (After clicking the link, select "words and music" on the top left-hand side of the page if you want to hear it sung.) Read through the lines, and remember that they're from scripture, that it really is the Lord speaking to every one of us, reassuring us. 

I hope and pray that maybe I felt prompted to post about this for a reason, that someone out there will listen to this beautiful song and get the lift they needed--I sure did, and I'm grateful.

Picnik

I've had all sorts of headaches trying to share pictures of Jamie with people tonight. I ended up messing around with Picnik, a photo editing program I've discovered. (The first picture hasn't had anything done to it, it's just cute.) Maybe I'll write a review on it when I get to know it better. For right now, I've stayed up too late!

Slicing and Dicing

Folks out there with babies: have you seen these?Disposable washcloths. Get them wet, and the suds are built in.

A friend gave us some before Jamie was born, and I admit, I thought: "How wasteful and frivolous. What's wrong with just using baby wash on a washcloth?" Well, what's wrong is, it's not as easy. It seems like you have to pour it on there like three times to get a good lather. But these are a bit expensive compared to the old-fashioned way. So here's a way to feel better about giving yourself a break:

Cut them in half!

Some regular scissors are all it takes. Babies are small. They don't need a lot of sudsing. Now we get 40 baths from a box and don't feel so bad about spending $3-something!

Same with these. My mom bought some and didn't like them, so I took them off her hands. It's hard to see in this picture, but there are only 28 in the tub. That's not even enough to cleanse once a day for a month! What the heck, Aveeno?!

Slice and dice.

Unless you have a really large face, you don't need the whole pad. It lathers nicely. I've been cutting mine in THIRDS, in kind of a peace-symbol pattern. It makes the luxury last a little longer. And if I ever buy more, I can look at the high price and tell myself they'll last me much longer than Aveeno intended.

Muah ha ha.

Go see what might last longer if you get creative with the scissors!

And lemme know if you find anything good. :)