The Ghosts of Halloween past

May your Tricks be few and
your Treats be many!
Happy Halloween everyone!

Kym and Adam/Family Reunion

We just got home last night from Rexburg. What a blast. Kym(fabulous niece) married Adam(totally cool new best friend)....and oooohhhh what a party! The air was crisp and fallish(wonderful), the food was plentiful and beautiful(delicious), the bride was dressed in simple white(breathtaking), and my family was reunited(blessing). take a look for yourself and see what I mean...
Megan wore her RED shoes...

all the cousins were having entirely too much fun!
and the day....well it was truly awesome- in the true sense of the word!

Claire and I made the cakes...check these out-

The grooms' cake was chocolate Diablo cake with dark chocolate
ganache, almond filling and molded chocolate leaves.
The wedding cake was orange almond cake with chocolate ganache
filling and buttercream frosting.
The leaves on the wedding cake I made out of melted sugar along with
the nest for the birds. I love how it turned out.
(thanks to Claire for all her hard work...or it would not
have "turned out")

The best part was catching up with my family. I love these people!!
I feel so blessed to be a part of their world.

I love you Kym.
...and Adam..."welcome to the family", good move.

Kym and Adam

 We just got home last night from Rexburg. What a blast. Kym(fabulous niece) married Adam(totally cool new best friend)....and oooohhhh what a party! The air was crisp and fallish(wonderful), the food was plentiful and beautiful(delicious), the bride was dressed in simple white(breathtaking), and my family was reunited(blessing). take a look for yourself and see what I mean...

Megan wore her RED shoes...

all the cousins were having entirely too much fun!

and the day....well it was truly awesome- in the true sense of the word!

Claire and I made the cakes...check these out-

The grooms' cake was chocolate Diablo cake with dark chocolate
ganache, almond filling and molded chocolate leaves.

The wedding cake was orange almond cake with chocolate ganache
filling and buttercream frosting.

The leaves on the wedding cake I made out of melted sugar along with
the nest for the birds. I love how it turned out.
(thanks to Claire for all her hard work...or it would not
have "turned out")

The best part was catching up with my family. I love these people!!
I feel so blessed to be a part of their world.

I love you Kym.
...and Adam..."welcome to the family", good move.

boo...sorta

Last week, we decided to have a Halloween party. Well, it's like this...all of us are about as busy as we can get the next 2 weeks, and we didn't want to skip it. and besides that...Claire really wanted it to celebrate her birthday. so what the heck...we just did one early!
K...way fun! just take a look:

Kindle making the most delicious sweet potatoes with Gorgonzola and hazelnuts...unbelievable!

Kindle had her "scare" on
Sweet "E" boy was there...in super form!(along with Lois of course...)

Waldo showed up...

Dread pirate...kitchen witch?

We are dorks...

I'm keeping the wig.

Claire de "Loon"

I used to dream about colors when I was pregnant. I know it sounds crazy (when have I not sounded crazy...right?) but I really did. With Kindle it was peachy orange, Kit was an aqua color, and Claire, was....well....complicated. I dreamt of periwinkle. But wait, then I would dream of dark golden yellow. back and forth like my brain couldn't control the color knob. Then, there she was...with periwinkle eyes and dark golden hair. Sweet and quiet, but also firm and determined. My life was once again changed forever for the better.

After she was born, I went and got the piano music for Debussy's "Claire de Lune". I have always loved it...with it's sometimes sensitive feeling and then sweeping movement. It was not an easy arrangement. Difficult, delicate, powerful, beautiful, and complicated...just like Claire. I felt like if I could just keep practicing...I would figure this piece out...

This is Claire when she was about 5 years old (we were driving in the van)...
"Mom I can cry anytime I want to."
(me)"you can? ok do it..."
pause...pause...pause...loud sobbing noise from the back seat.."waaahhh!"

I'm telling you people...I had to turn around to make sure she was ok...she nailed it!
Claire smiling, "see."
Tell me...as a mother what do you do with this?

Claire and her dad have a system also...they tease and tease and tease till Claire gets so upset that she starts to cry....then I step in and say "Rob...do you have to do this?" (scolding) Claire will be behind my back laughing at Rob because she got him in trouble... game over.

I secretly like it this way. I have moments, occasionally, when I actually conquer the music.
Like this time:Me and Claire at a Halloween party...(lick finger-chalk 1 up for mom...)

But most of the time, I just have to sit back...and wonder at the mystery, and allure of this most fascinating creature.



Happy Birthday, sweetheart. You have brought magic into my simple minded world.

just today...

Claire came to have lunch with me today...she picked the ripe tomatoes that I have been neglecting (mainly due to tomato overload), but you can't look at a beautiful bowl of fresh picked tomatoes and not eat at least a few...so she made the most luscious roasted veggie sandwiches ever! take a look:

Roasted Veggie sandwiches:

1 medium peeled zucchini
1 medium peeled yellow squash
1 super sweet onion
2-3 tomatoes
1 medium peeled eggplant
Italian dressing (homemade is best)
feta cheese (optional)

Slice all the vegetables and lay out on a cookie sheet. Drizzle the Italian dressing over all the vegetables and throw in the oven for about 35-40 minutes at 425* or until they caramelize or the edges turn golden brown. Serve on toasted bread with feta cheese or drizzle flavored olive oil. mega -yum!

Oh Ya....
Last night Claire called me and Rob at around 11pm and asked if we remembered to call Jeff for his birthday? Oh Crap! It was too late to call him then...so I stewed about it for another hour. But during the stew time, I just thought about Jeff for awhile. What a great guy. really. He is so very funny and we all really miss him right now (gone to the air force) and I know that he is wishing he could be hanging out at my table eating these sandwiches and a birthday cake that I would surely have made if he were here. After Jeff came home from his mission, the 1st time we saw him was at stake conference. He was sitting a few rows back from us and Claire saw him out of the corner of her eye...she said "mom, don't let him see me!! I know he will ask me out and I don't want to have boyfriend right now!!" ......ya. That lasted about 30 seconds, 'cause Jeff made a Bee line straight over to her as soon as the Amen was said. She was a gonner. Thank heaven.
Love you Jeff...even if we are a lame family that never calls or writes...or knows how to take pictures...believe me, we are thinking about you.