What we did last week...

Last Sunday, the 12th, we had a regional conference. Paul and I went to the broadcast while the kids stayed home. It was nice to have a break from the norm. Everyone in our area was invited to attend. (Just making note of this for my own records.)

That evening we were invited to Paul's sister's home to celebrate Nancy's birthday. We got to have a nice family dinner followed by birthday cookie (that Nancy made for herself!)

It was funny, my sister-in-law had a bag of candles but no 7 so we had "math candles". You had to add up the last two numbers to get her age.

Here are the girls making a plus sign between the numbers.

Grandma didn't want to crush the cookies so we didn't put the candles in it. 

After we had our cookie and Tillamook ice cream (YUM!!!) the kids played with photo-booth. They were howling with laughter and making a ton of noise. Grandma Fern was wondering what was going on they brought the laptop over to show her. They even morphed grandma! It was fun watching the generations marvel over technology together. 

I think this will be a memory that my kids will keep of their great-grandma forever. 

September 13th was a tough day for baby girl. They watched movies about 9/11 in English class. 

I don't know if it was because the tragedy of 9/11 is something that we talk about as a family because her dad lived in New York as a kid or if it was just hormones but it really effected her. 

Her emotions got the better of her and she started crying. She was the only one and felt very self-conscious about it. I think it's sweet. It shows she can grasp the seriousness of those tragic events. It shows that she gets it, but for her it was just embarrassing. 

Emma gets home almost an hour before Andrew. I have really enjoyed my time alone with her after school. I get to listen to her tell me about her day. When she told me what happened she started crying again. I felt so bad for her. 

She's been wanting to do something different with her hair for years and I had been warming up to the idea. I even had some NON-PERMANENT dye that we had bought but I was too scared to use. I thought it would be a good time to use it. So we colored her hair. It came out a little darker and a little redder but nothing overly dramatic. 

That night I tried another new recipe. A fellow blogger and a friend that I grew up with, Sally, posted this recipe a while ago. In the comments I said it sounded like something I would enjoy and my family probably wouldn't. I was right. Paul ate it but the kids didn't. We had enough sides with rice, beans and guacamole that no one starved but I doubt I will be making them again. It's sad that my family is so picky. If you like Bajio food or even the sweeter mole' you may like these. They have that sweet twang.

Here is the recipe as taken straight from Sally's blog. 

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

6 Tbs. Honey
5 Tbs. Lime Juice
1 Tbs. Chili Powder
½ tsp. Garlic Powder


1 lb. Chicken (cooked & shredded)
8-10 Flour Tortillas
1 lb. Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
16 oz. Green Enchilada Sauce
1 Cup Heavy Cream

Mix the first 4 ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least ½ hour, ( I toss mine in a zip lock in the morning and let it sit in the refrigerator all day). Pour about ½ cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Fill four tortillas with chicken and cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on the top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

  

Guacamole is a family favorite these days. I'm getting pretty dang good at making it. 

We've had some pretty sunsets last week. These were taken on the 14th. 

It amazing how colors change minute to minute.

Andrew has a new obsession, silly bands. He has spent a ton of his allowance on these things. Whatever! 

This past week the leaves really started to change on the mountains. This was the 15th. We got some HOT weather (low 90's for the last several days) and it looks like they are already withering away. We are going to try our family pictures Monday night. Wish us luck. I'm crossing my fingers that there are still leaves in the canyon. I wish this time could last longer.

Wednesday night we drove to Provo. The leaves were even more vibrant down there. 

This is a map of where we will be spending a bunch of time next summer. 

City Deals was doing an awesome deal on the Pass of all Passes. We can go to Seven Peaks, both Trafalga's, Owlz games and Flash games for the next year as much as we want until Nov. 2011. Be prepared to see lots of mini-golf pictures in the next year. 

 

On the way home I asked if we could stop by the temple. The sun was setting and everything had a warm golden glow. I am not happy with most of these though. I felt rushed since Andrew and Paul were waiting in the car. I couldn't really walk around to check angles and stuff. I had never been on these temple grounds before so I just took the "safe" shots. Straight on, snooze, boring. That's me though. I'm very comfortably in the box. The flowers were amazing. I would love to go back and try again but I don't think I will have another chance with the leaves this year. 

Thursday night we did nothing and Friday and Saturday nights will get their own posts. I have to go help  with dinner.