Pie Pig Out

We started a new tradition this year, we invited several families from church over on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and asked each one of them to bring a pie. We ate pie, only pie, and talked and laughed and prepared ourselves for a wonderful feast on Thanksgiving day. I came across this idea in a Family Traditions book that my Grandma DaBell gave me. It said how one family always got together on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and ate the pies - so they could enjoy them since it always seems like you are so full from the turkey and all the trimmings to actually enjoy the pie. So, we ate them ahead of time and it was wonderful. Especially after our hotdog fiasco , it was wonderful to have plenty of people accept our invitation. I think Bryan counted at one time and there were over 30 people in our house. It was fun.

Of course, I didn't make pumpkin pie because I thought someone else would bring it. Everyone must of been thinking the same thing because there was not one pumpkin pie to eat that evening. We also were asked several times if this was the first annual to which we replied, "YES!" So next year we will again have a Pie Pig Out the sunday before Thanksgiving and I will make the pumpkin pies and let everyone else bring whatever they want :)

Rexburg Temple Open House

I'm simply delighted that I am going to be able to attend the open house for the Rexburg Temple. The past few summers as we have visited friends in Rexburg, we always drive by the temple, envisioning what it is going to look like when it is done. My SIL Shireen called me on Monday and said they were getting tickets for all of us to go - yes all of us VanOrdens - I think she said that was 25 tickets. I'm sad that Bryan won't be with us. I am flying out to see my parents over New Years with Carson and Morgan. It won't be a long trip, but I'll get my cup filled (it's a large one) with family, hopefully enough to last me until June when I will be able to go visit again.

It's Never a Good Thing...

When you walk into a room and you can hear your three-year old but can't see her. As soon as you find her, she hides what she is doing and says....

"Mommy, you need to go away!"

It always spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E when I hear that lovely little sentence.

Me and my kids...

These are the pictures we had taken at Target in October. Aren't they cute?

More pictures

At the beginning of October, I had to take Morgan to St Louis for his quarterly check ups at the St Louis Children's Hospital. So afterwards, I took Carson and Morgan to the Zoo. It was the perfect weather to do so. We walked around for two hours and I got some really good exercise from pushing my two little ones in the double stroller. You should have seen the hill we had to go up to see the lions and the zebras - but it was well worth it. We had a great time.

As you can tell, the weather was perfect that day. I think it actually got into the 80's, no kidding! I just checked out accuweather.com and the high that day in St Louis was 83. So yes, it was a warm day especially for October. We were there on Wednesday, October 9. We did have one funny experience, when we were leaving the hospital and on the way to the zoo, it was dark in the parking garage so I turned on the lights and then forgot about them. I left them on the whole time we were at the zoo, so when I came back out to our car, the battery was dead! It was hot and Carson and Morgan were ready to go home and take a nap. The people who work at the zoo were so wonderful, (it must happen a lot, people with car problems). Anyway, they had us on our way in no time, it took them less than five minutes to respond to our vehicle and have it running.

Meeting our Neighbors (or cooking 200 hotdogs and only giving away 14)

WOW! Halloween night was just not as fun as it could have been for us. We, as a family, were really excited for Halloween. We had decided earlier in the month to invite our neighbors over to meet and greet and as a bonus, give away a hot dog. I know, I know, a hot dog is not the most wonderful thing in the whole world, but heck, it was free and gave people a chance to meet us. We passed out 150 invitations, to those we do on the paper route and then some of the streets nearest us. We were hoping for a good response. We had ONE person from the paper route come over with his daughter and we had ONE of our actual neighbors come over and get four hot dogs for her family. The rest of them were just random trick or treaters and also the a different neighbors' dog who couldn't resist the smell of the meat!

Hmmm, I don't know actually how I feel. Not overly mad, or even sad, maybe just disappointed. We just don't live in a very neighborly area. I know when Carson starts school, we will get to know a lot more people, but it is very lonely sometimes, not knowing but a handful of people in your town. For awhile, I have felt bad that we haven't reached out more to our neighbors, but now I'm deciding they don't want to reach out to us very badly either, or they would have done it already. Our one neighbor who did come over, it was wonderful to finally meet her and talk with her. Bryan is more social than I am and he has talked to them several times, I just wave. This was the first time that I really talked to her. At least now, we have someone to take treats to at Christmas and Boo next year for Halloween. I'm going to keep on trying to meet people, even if they don't want to!

I also don't think I'll be cooking 200 hot dogs ever again. I did get a great casserole recipe to share, to help use up the hot dogs.

This is the tent we had set up. Our good friends, the Vreelands, let us borrow it. They even came over and set it up and take it down. They were so kind.

Here are the kids, already to serve our neighbors. The weather was perfect to be outside on a fall crisp night.

Trunk or Treat

Every year, our ward puts on a Trunk or Treat. We all meet at the church, have a potluck dinner, the kids play a few games and then we "Trunk or Treat". It is always a super fun activity and the kids look forward to it every year.

Carson dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Morgan was a Rooster. I got lots of good pictures of Carson; however, none of Morgan's turned out! I didn't want to stick him in his costume again, he was ticked off enough the first time; so it will be just a memory we have!

This was the only picture I got of Morgan, when we were getting ready for the Trunk or Treat. At least he is in his Halloween shirt.

I did a quick job on Carson's hair, but had to show that we were really able to get pony tails in her hair. Her hair is still pretty fine and not long enough to do much with.

Carson and her best friend in the whole world, Anna Headman. They spent the whole night together and had lots of fun. Anna was a kittycat.

Cameron came as a Boy Scout! The "Two C's" as Rylee calls them had a great time running around and trick or treating around the parking lot. Morgan wasn't as enthusiastic about the whole event but he sure loves his candy and anyone else's that he can snag while they aren't looking.