MY MOTHER-IN-LAW IS BETTER THAN YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW

and today is her birthday!

Joan is:

kind

loving and very loved

thoughtful

interesting and interested

hilarious

the best story teller

is "in the know"

talented

an incredible mother
and

an even better grandmother

WE LOVE YOU JOAN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

THANKSGIVING

We spent Thanksgiving at the beach with Larry's parents. After we ate, we went down to the beach to have a little sunset bonfire.  The only thing that would have made the evening better would have been smores, but we were stuffed from our yummy Thanksgiving smorgasbord!

Before we went home, my man clan went for a little dip at the indoor community pool.  It was our first time there and we will definitely be back!

I'm so thankful for our family and extended family.  They make my heart purr.

LARRY J WOKE UP TO A FUN SURPRISE!

His leaders and some of the guys in his church class came over to wake him up for an INSANITY birthday workout.

(I know this picture is blurry, we have ridiculously horrible lighting in our living room, practically non existent)

After a hard, sweaty, kick butt 40 minute workout, they took him out for a birthday breakfast.

My boys have been blessed with amazing church youth leaders and mentors over the years.  I am so incredibly thankful that they take time to show that they truly care about them.  A little extra effort to make someone feel special goes along way.  This was a birthday wonderful morning.

WE HAVE AN 18 YEAR OLD - SAY WHAT?!?!

18 years ago, Larry J changed our lives forever.  We couldn't be more proud of our first born.  I'm thrilled about the man he is becoming but I'm also wanting to turn back time and keep him my little boy.

Larry J is:

big brother extraordinaire

fun and funny

I absolutely LOVE his laugh

caring

thoughtful

 loyal and trustworthy

an Eagle Scout

excited about his future

kind and loving

talented

and 18 - holy cow, how did that happen?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARRY J!

WE LOVE YOU!!

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO CELEBRATE

Erica's birthday!

I'm so thankful Erica is a part of our family and the joy she brings.  She is talented, fun, whimsical, spiritual, creative and an awesome aunt who is very much loved by her nieces and nephews.  This gal is as beautiful inside as she is outside.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERICA!

WE LOVE YOU!!

IT'S OUR KIDNEY'S FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, SO WE HAD A LITTLE HALLOWEEN PARTY

to celebrate.  A yummy chili feed with the family to warm our bellies before everyone went their separate ways trick or treating.

5 years down, 55 more to go!

I hope your Halloween night was as spooktacular as ours!

I HAD A DATE WITH THE WEE-EST TODAY

for a field trip with his 1st grade class.  We went to the pumpkin patch, apple orchard, corn maze and washed all the fun down with apple cider and apple cider donuts.  We had perfect autumn weather and got to snuggle on the school bus.

It was a great day to be in 1st grade!

PUMPKIN POP TARTS

Pumpkin Pop Tarts

Pastry:
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
3/4 cup Earth Balance (or butter)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
7 TBSP ice water

Put first five ingredients into a food processor and pulse until coarse balls form.  Add water 1 TBSP at a time.
Form dough into a disk, wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Pumpkin filling:
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine in a bowl and let sit while pastry dough is chilling.

Cinnamon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
1/4 cup almond milk (any milk)

Combine and adjust liquid until desired consistency.

Now for the fun part!  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out the pasty dough to approximately 1/4-inch and cut into desired shapes.  Put a heaping TBSP of pumpkin filling in the center.  Spread, but avoid the edges.  Lightly dip your finger into water and rub the outside edge of the shapes (this will act like glue to hold the top piece on.)  Place the top piece on the lightly press the edges together to seal.

Place on baking sheets and bake for 18-20 minutes.  Top with a drizzle of cinnamon glaze before serving.

PS - Here's a link to a different version of  I did a couple of years ago - pumpkin pop tarts with apple cider glaze.  Happy baking!

SOME OF MY RELATIVES WERE HUNG IN THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS OF 1692

My 9th great-grandmother is Rebecca Towne Nurse.  She was indicted on charges of witchcraft and hung on 19 July 1692.

John and Elizabeth Proctor are my 9th great-grandparents. They were indicted on charges of witchcraft. Elizabeth was given a temporary stay of execution because she was pregnant.  John, however, was hung on 19 August 1692.

Two of my 9th great-grand aunts were also accused of witchcraft - Rebecca's sisters, Mary Towne Eastey and Sarah Towne Cloyce.  On 22 September 1692, Mary was hung.  Sarah was never indicted and survived the witch hysteria.

My parents and aunt and uncle are back east visiting the family homesteads and memorials.  I have LOVED getting text messages from them with photos.  I'm super jealous I'm not with them but so happy they are sharing their journey as it goes along.

 John Proctor's home.

 Rebecca Nurse's home.  I love the door knocker!

Although this era of history is horrendous, I think it's super cool to be connected to this history.
I'm very thankful that the homesteads and memorials have been preserved so that we have the opportunity to see them.

I hope I see them sooner than later.

PS - Here's a link to the Salem Witch Trials.

MYSTERY WOMEN GETAWAY

This weekend I was in California with my high school best friend and some other women I hadn't met.
Actually, no one there knew every person, so it was dubbed the mystery women getaway. It ended up being a series of unfortunate events and a lot of amazingness.  It was most definitely a beautiful mess.

Due to a last minute flight cancellation, six of the eight women didn't have a way to California ( I will NEVER fly Allegiant Air) and that started a wave of events.  Luckily they got tickets with another airline, but they weren't able to fly out until the next day.
I was already at the Oakland Airport waiting for them.  Thankfully, one of the other women lives close so I was able to take the BART to her and we started the weekend fun, that sadly, the Utah lasses missed out on.
We bonded straightaway and I feel like I've known Rebecca forever.
We hung out in her neck of the woods and in the morning we drove down to Monterey and went sea kayaking - oh my goodness, was that fun!  One highlight was we had six curious seals that kept coming really close, one even rolled over like it wanted it's belly rubbed!

Finally, everyone was in one place and I got to hug my Kristen Pisten!

It was such a great weekend reconnecting with Kristen and getting to know the other lasses.  We rented an amazing house in Pacific Grove, stayed up to the wee hours of the night, went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, enjoyed the coastal gorgeousness, had a birthday celebration, walked around Carmel, ate at delicious restaurants (every restaurant we went to was very vegan friendly - it was so nice!) explored 17 mile drive and laughed so hard I almost wet pants.
I had no doubt I'd like all the women this weekend, but I had no idea how fast I'd fall for them.  They are spectacular!!  Although this weekend had circumstances beyond our control, this weekend gets a four star review.