BYU Football Season is Officially Here

There are many great perks for living right in the heart of BYU. But one negative is the traffic around BYU Football games. Today is their first game and it's exciting to hear the crowd cheer and the booming every time there is a touchdown. Here is a picture of what it looks like from my front porch. We have parked people on our lawn before and can easily make $5-$10 a car! Some games I have people knocking on my door asking if they can pay me to park on my lawn! I do love the feeling of when BYU Football starts up. It's a reminder that the air is going to become more crisp and the leaves are going to start to change. Fall is soon to be here!

Sundance with the Oteos

We went to Sundance last night with Doni and Melanee. It's about a 15 minute drive up the canyon and you feel like you are in a totally different place that took forever to get to. We went to the restaurant and ate and had great conversation. We love Doni and Melanee. David has been friends with the Oteo family for years and then when we got married, we shared a duplex with Doni and Melanee when they were newlyweds too. Since then we have both started little families.

We always love to get together with them. There is always something to talk about from 9/11 to Book of Mormon landmarks, and last night we talked for a long time about home school, which was very convincing.

Thanks Doni and Melanee for the fun night. We don't do it enough!

Recipe Exchange

Last night was our monthly recipe exchange for Enrichment. We all make what we want to share and bring enough copies of the recipes for everyone to take home. And once again, I came home with some new yummy recipes. One of my favorites was brought by Catherine. It was her version of TGI Fridays Mac and Cheese and it was oh so good. It has a little bit of heat to it because of the green chiles and hot sauce. Here is the recipe:

Mac and Cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

16 oz sour cream

1 can diced green chiles

11 oz elbow macaroni-medium

6 oz shredded cheddar cheese

sriracha hot sauce to taste

1 sleeve Ritz crackers-crushed

3 tbs. butter

Cook macaroni according to the directions on the package. While cooking, mix sour cream and chicken soup with a whisk. Then add green chiles, mixing well. After draining macaroni, mix with the prepared soup mixture. Blend well, add Sriracha sauce to taste. Place in a 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle top with cheddar cheese. MIs the crushed Ritz crackers with the melted butter and cover. Cook at 425 for 25 minutes or until top is brown and crisp.

I got this one from Becky. I feel lucky to always get great recipes from Becky. She teaches foods at Lone Peak High and has many great recipes that she is always sharing. This one is called Mashed Potato Layer Bake. It is layered white potatoes and sweet potatoes. So yummy!

Mashed Potato Layer Bake

4 large white potatoes, peeled, chopped and cooked

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped and cooked

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c parmesan cheese

1/4 c shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Mash white potatoes with 4 oz cream cheese and 1/4 sour cream. Mash the sweet potatoes with 4 oz cream cheese and 1/4 sour cream. Season both with salt and pepper. Add half the parmesan cheese to the white potatoes and half the cheddar cheese to the sweet potatoes. Layer half of each in a 2 quart clear casserole dish. (Sprayed with Pam) Repeat layers. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake 5 minutes more.

Carmen's First Day of Pre-School!

Today was Carmen's first day of pre-school and she couldn't have been more excited. Last night and this morning she said, "I am sooo excited to go to school!" After a couple years of watching Graham go, she couldn't believe it was finally her turn. I really enjoyed the few hours that I had with just Morgan. I will need to figure out what will be the most productive thing I can (or should) be doing with my time.

Her teacher is my good friend Alisa. Graham went to her and loved her. He has been prepping Carmen letting her know all the fun things she will do at Sister Gilchrist's house. On the way home today Carmen said, "I can't wait to go back there!"
Jake and Ben (Carmen's twin cousin's) are in her class too. They all had a great day. And it was an extra special day today because Grandma Packer is down here helping out at the Fossum house. It was her job to take the boys to school today. This picture was taken right after school.

Morgan has already started walking around the house with bags saying, "I'm going to school....bye, see you tomorrow." Her school is an overnight one, I guess.

Having Too Much Fun!

Graham 1970

Carmen 1996 Morgan 1966

Blast From The Past

I laughed so hard when I saw Lindsay's blog with her updated family photos! I had to try it myself. Here is what David and I would look like back in 1976 and then in 1990....well roughly! Isn't it hilarious?! You can try it too if you go to yearbookyourself.com.

More Things to Do in Provo

So David and I had a date last night and we thought we would try a few more things that we never have before living here in Provo. First we went to Happy Sumo for dinner. The food was great. We tried the Vegas Roll, Buffalo Roll, and the Jezabelle Roll. The Vegas and Buffalo rolls were fried, but the Jezabelle was raw. We loved all three, but both of us actually liked the Jezabelle best. Raw sushi is good because you can taste all the flavors individually. I just had sushi for the first time this summer at my family reunion and after Happy Sumo, I think I am really liking it. I look forward to trying more soon.

After dinner we went down the street to Color Me Mine. It's a little ceramic shop where you pick your dish and then paint it. It reminded me of the good ol' days in high school ceramic class. I picked a little vase and David painted a butter dish. David wasn't too excited for this part of the date, but I think by the end of the night, he was really enjoying himself. The only problem was that every time I tried to talk to him....no response. David is such a perfectionist that he couldn't even hear me talking to him. We were laughing about it later, but at the time it was getting a little annoying.

We came home and watched the movie, Vantage Point. When the movie was over we decided that we could rename the movie, "Groundhog Day 2" or "Human Life Means Nothing" since almost everyone dies....sorry to spoil it if you haven't seen it.

Cindy's Homemade Bread

Sadie asked me if I had a good bread recipe. In response to that I say, "Heck ya I do!!" I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, Cindy, who to me is one of the best cooks I know. This bread recipe is delicious and you don't even need a mixer or a bread machine to make it. For a long time I made it just with a bowl and spoon. So if you are looking for a good bread recipe, here you go. I use it for my homemade pizza dough as well. Enjoy!
(This recipe is in Cindy's words):

6 C hot water
1/2 C oil
1/2 C sugar
3 rounded Tbs yeast (I use saf)
2 Tbs salt
10-12 C flour ( maybe more, I nver measuer my flour I mostly go by texture)
Place water, sugar, oil, and salt into bread mixer. I use a bosch mixer. Then add about 4 cups of flour then add the yeast. Let it continue to mix using one cup at a time. I add flour until it starts to pull away from the edges, then I watch to make usre I don't get too much flour as it makes for real dry bread. I feel the dough to make sure that it is not too sticky, but does stick slightly to your finger.
Oil a large plastic mixing bowl then dump your dough into the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap to keep from drying out. Let it rise, then punch it down and let it raise again. About 20-30 minutes each time depending on the warmth of your house.
Divide into six equal pieces. Spray bread loaf pans then make bread into loafs. Place in pans and let rise till double in size. Place in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top. When done baking dump out of pans. Let cool completely before bagging.

My Sunday Thought

Today in sunday school we talked about families, particularly mothers. We were studying about the 2,000 spripling warriors and what an influence their mothers had. Bishop asked if there was anything in our lives that influence us as mothers and the strain we feel today raising children.

I just wanted to make a few comments on that. I am grateful to be a mother. I know that it is a very sacred calling that is given to women. I am grateful that I get to stay home and raise my little ones and that it isn't very common or praised in this world today. I know that my influence is huge on them and I am thankful that I have that special responsibility of making sure they have what they need. I am grateful for my own mother who taught me so much both by word and example. I know that having mulitple children can be looked down upon in these last days, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Each of my children have a special spirit and they are needed here now. I hope that David and I will be able to provide what they need to succeed in every way.

A Little Motivation

I found out what Graham really enjoys. "Fancy Pants Adventures". If you google that, you will find a little adventure game where you are a little stick figure with oversized pants on. I consists of jumping on huge stick spiders and clinging to walls and much more fun tasks.

If Graham ever needs a little boost to get motivated that will be all I need to say, "Do you want to earn some time to play Fancy Pants?" I look forward to using it to my advantage as his year in first grade continues..... :)

A Saturday Morning in August

In the 7+ years that we have been married we have never gone to Utah Lake....nope, not once! I had this vision of a clear lake with lots of sandy beaches, but David was quick to inform me that that's not the case at all.

David found out about this yummy little bakery on 100 N. We all picked out some sort of pastry before we headed out to the lake.

We enjoyed ourselves. The kids loved to play on the little "beach" full of hard dirt and rocks and we waded in the murky water. We had to watch out though because if we stood in one position for too long, we were stuck there. Graham lost his flip flop at one point and I had to go feel around in the quick sand for it. It kind of grossed me out.We found out that Harvey is definitely a water dog. We haven't ever taken him to the water before and he played fetch for about, oh, the whole time we were there. I finally asked David, "Is he still doing it because he wants to, or just to please us??"
It was fun. We learned today that there is a lot to see here in Provo that we don't take advantage of.

Like Father, Like Son

My brother Daniel is hilarious. Always doing off the wall stuff to entertain himself. He married Sadie, who is the sweetest thing and she laughs at everything he does, which keeps him going. Sadie sent me these pictures of Daniel in the tub in their first apartment being funny. So later she took one of Thomas, their son, doing the same. Their home will always be filled with joy and laughter doing things like this. Little does Dan know, he is not only entertaining Sadie, but all of us too! And lucky Thomas doesn't even realize the entertainment he is in for! Love you guys!!

More Pictures of Sweet Rachel

Here are a few more pictures of Rachel. My brother Ben was in town for a BYU-I meeting so he wanted to see Sarah and the baby before he left back to Rexburg. I had to go with him of course!

I didn't notice this morning, but Rachel has way dark hair! And it curls on the top of her head. She looks a little like Enoch, but has Benjamin's mouth. She's a doll.

Sarah is really sick. Just like her last c-section, she doesn't react well to the morphine, so she has been throwing up all day and was pretty out of it when we were there. I was glad I got to go again. Thanks Ben for taking me along!

Welcome Rachel Elizabeth!

This picture was taken just minutes after she was born. She looks a lot like Enoch did when he was born. She was crying until she heard all of us talking, then she stopped and listened. What a cutie!
John with Rachel in the Nursery. She was getting all her vitals checked.

I got to go see Sarah's c-section this morning. It was truly amazing to watch the doctor get that baby out. It is a miracle to make and deliver a baby.

Congratulations John and Sarah on your new little baby girl, Rachel Elizabeth. After 4 boys, this girl is going to have a lot of love! She weighed 9 lbs 7 oz! and was 20 in. long.

I've Been Decieved!

I've been tricked! I love a Thai Ruby. It's a restaurant down in the heart of BYU. Their food is so yummy and they have the best coconut juice ever! It comes in their big glasses with ice and in the bottom floats chunks of coconut.

We went to a different thai restaurant tonight with John and Sarah called Thai Chili Garden. The food tastes the same as Thai Ruby. I decided to try their coconut juice to compare. They brought out a chilled can. I thought, "Oh great, this stuff is going to be junky." I popped it open and to my surprise it was totally the same stuff that Thai Ruby gives you only they disguise it to make it look like they have been slaving all day squeezing and cutting a coconut. I am totally going to look for this stuff in bulk on the internet somewhere because it's that good!

Still in Shock.....WE"RE GOING TO COLDPLAY!!

Today I was hanging out at Sarah's house trying to help her kill time before her C-Section tomorrow when the phone rang. Sarah was reluctant to answer it because she didn't want to have to hear..."Did you have your baby yet??" But it was my brother Sam. He asked to talk to me. I thought maybe he was wanting to discuss plans for when I am going to go see him in October. But no!!! He started to tell me that he bought me an early birthday present. "What is it?" I asked. He went on to explain that he couldn't believe that David hasn't ever gone to a concert before and he knew we wanted to go to Coldplay. So he purchased two tickets!!! I am so excited. Thank you, thank you, thank you Sam!! I couldn't believe it! I had to call David and he too was excited. That's a lot of money to spend on a birthday present, but that's my brother for ya. He's always been a giver.

On the way home in the car I just kept screaming, "Woo Hoo!" Carmen finally said, "Can you stop screaming. I can't even think when you do that." When I picked up Graham from school I had to tell him about it and his eyes got all wide and said, "Cool!" Graham knew that we had been wanting to go because we have talked about it.

So thanks Sam for the gift. It really means a lot to me. It's going to be loads of fun!

Graham Starts First Grade!

Graham had his first day of school today. He is in the first grade and his teacher's name is Mrs. Gibby. When I went to pick him up today I said, "How was your first day of First Grade?" He said, "Great!"

I was so nervous for him. It's a much longer day than kindergarten and he gets to pack a lunch. I had some anxieties like, how is he going to know what to do at lunch? and is he just going to go to recess after he eats? How will he know??.....but all of that went away today when I picked him up and realized that he is just fine. He just goes along with all the other kids. He was excited because at lunch, "he saw everyone he knew in kindergarten!"

It is weird to think that I now have a first grader, but I think it will be even weirder when Carmen starts pre-school at Alisa's next week and two days out of the week it will just be me and Morgan.

My Guitar!

Back when I was single I bought a guitar. It's made of cherry wood and is beautiful. My brother Dan had just started to play, so I thought I would join him in the journey of teaching myself. After a few months of practicing my fingers hurt and I was even more discouraged when I took a guitar class at Ricks where the teacher taught us his own method of reading music. The beautiful guitar sat in the corner following me with every move and then even along with me into my marriage. One day, after Daniel's mission, he asked me if he could buy it from me if I wasn't using it. I accepted knowing that this beautiful guitar would be in good hands, but there was one condition....I could buy it back from him whenever I wanted to pick up playing again.

So a few months ago I started to get the itch to play again. I told Dan that I was interested in buying it back. Yesterday when I was about ready to come home from Rexburg, Dan came over to the house with an "early birthday present". My guitar! It was a great surprise. He informed me that he restrung it for me because the other strings were way to hard to push. Which explained why my fingers hurt so bad! I kept waiting for my calluses to be strong enough! Thanks Dan and Sadie for the gift. I am excited to start to play again!

My 10 Year Reunion

This last Saturday was my 10 year reunion that I was in charge of. I am glad to be done with it, but I also really enjoyed doing it and seeing all that came! I had a great commitee (my senior class officers) and Natalie!
We met at the park from 11-3 for lunch, visiting, raffle, and games. I am so upset that I didn't take pictures. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off making sure everything was going well. Clint (a friend from our class) manages a bunch of Tropical Sno's down here in Utah and willingly brought everything he needed to make snow cones for all. They were a huge hit for the kids! We had a raffle with really fun prizes to try and offset all costs that were put into the reunion. It was a huge success. We had some great donations too including upgrades for Garage Band for Mac (thanks Jared), BYU-I shirts, hoodies, and fleece throws, Utah Flash clothing (thanks Nat), an ipod shuffle (Beehive Credit Union) and many other local businesses donated food and entertainment in the form of gift certificates.
That night we went to my stake center with the adults only. It was a good time to visit without worrying about the kiddos. We had ice cream sundaes, our senior slide show (that was hilarious to watch after all these years, and us officers thought we did such a marvelous job on it!), and a wii tournament. It was great to see everyone there and I missed a few good friends (Erin!) who didn't come. :) Here are just a few pics that I took that night.

Me with my class officers, Hillary, Anna, and Meredith. We missed you Jill.

At the end of the night I went around and got nominations for who everyone thought should head up the 20 year reunion. Here I am standing with the new committee. You will do a gret job girls!!
Here is Sterling and Damon facing off as the two finalist in our Wii tournie. These guys were really good!

Me and two of my best friends from high school! I love you guys!

Toward the end of our Senior year we had everyone sign this sheet and put on it what they think they would be doing in 20 years. Anna found it in her basement! It was fun to read and see what everyone put on there. Some were dead on!

Michael Phelps is Amazing!

We have been staying up way too late this past week watching the Olympics. Some of my favorite events have been the diving, swimming, and gymnastics. It has all been very entertaining, but to us the most amazing thing has been to watch Michael Phelps. He is in another league than the rest of the swimmers.

Last night they were talking about his body and how it is an ideal body for a swimmer. He stands at 6'4" with an arm span of 6'8". His feet are size 14 (they related them to flippers) and his hand are the size of dinner plates. His legs are only the size of a 6'0" man, but his torso it the size of a 6'8" man.

If you haven't had a chance to watch him compete yet, I think he has a few more races to go. He has won 6 Gold's making it a total of 11 Gold's for his career. Go Phelps!! It's been very entertaining to watch.

It's Just Not Fair!!!

The other day on the radio I heard that Coldplay was coming to town in November. They are David's favorite! We have loved them our whole married life.

I did some research and Ticketmaster is selling the tickets for good seats for around $100 each! I remember way back when Pearl Jam had a huge feud with Ticketmaster saying they were charging their fans too much to get to their concerts. They thought is should be reasonably priced so that anyone who wanted to come enjoy their music would be able to afford it. I'm with you on that one Eddie!

So I am using "The Secret" and putting it out into the universe that someway, somehow David and I will get a hold of some tickets to get to that concert. I have seen a lot of concerts in my day, but I have a feeling that this one would be great.