Family Photos

Finally! A family photo shoot with the whole family! I am excited to develop some favorites and update all of the pictures in the house.

Here are a couple family shots in the running:

Love the colors in this one!

This one definitely has some personality....

And here are some of my other favorites:

I'm glad the kids got some good ones with their Daddy.

And there you have it. Yes, between this photo shoot and the one the kids and I did a few weeks ago, we have plenty of great pictures to choose from, thanks to the MBA ladies who did these for us. Great work!

Decision Made: and the winner is......

Amazon! 

After much deliberation, research and prayer, we have decided to accept the offer with Amazon and move to Seattle when Justin graduates with his MBA. It has been a big decision for us to make and we now feel at peace with it and whatever adventures it may bring. We celebrated with the kids on Saturday with a little Martinelli's..... 

It has been sitting in the fridge now for about two months awaiting a decision. It is so nice to have some closure on the job search and to now know where we will be going. So now we get to start the housing search. Oh boy! If any of you have suggestions for places to live or other house hunting tips, we're all ears! We've never tried to buy a house before!

We feel especially blessed that Justin has been able to get a good job with a good company that is a good fit for him. With the economy the way it is right now, many students will be happy to just get a job, regardless of how great of a fit it is. 

We are excited to begin the Seattle chapter of our lives. Until then, we are enjoying all of the benefits of being at BYU and all of the great associations and activities we have here. It's been so nice to be closer to family as well. So we will enjoy all of it while it lasts, and look forward to life in Seattle with anticipation and as always some nerves. 

Congratulations Justin! I'm so proud of you!

Oklahoma!

Back in the good ol' days of high school I participated in the musical, "Oklahoma!" It was an incredible experience for me. Last night, we got to go see the show at a junior high in Orem since my sister Marianne was the musical director. It was well done and we thouroughly enjoyed it. Seeing the show again brought back so many memories for me. 

We were unsuccessful at finding a babysitter so we opted to take all of the kids along, even though it would be a very late night for them. I was pretty sure that Brandon and Lindsey would be entertained enough by it to watch and be content, but I was not sure how Katelyn would react to the show, especially since it ran for over 2 1/2 hours. I prepared myself for the possibility that she might get restless and we would spend a good portion of the play out in the foyer. To my surprise, this is what Katelyn thought of the show:

As you can see, she absolutely loved the music! She was entertained and content for just about the entire performance! This little girl loves music so much and I am so glad that she enjoyed the experience. What a fun night!

Leaves!

This time of year I often think of the primary song that goes

Leaves are falling all around, 

on the house tops on the ground....

The colors here have just been breathtaking! The kids enjoyed a great time raking and then playing in the leaves at my parents' house where there is no shortage of falling leaves. 

Katelyn even got in on the putting leaves on Aunt Erin's head action. Nice, Erin!

I think the adults at least were tired by the end of it.

Happy Halloween!

Last week we enjoyed pumpkin carving and an MBA Halloween party. Our pumpkins turned out pretty good...

And the MBA party was a lot of fun. The kids looked cute in their costumes and were ready to hit the road tonight with the trick-or-treating fun.

Brandon made a great pirate,

Lindsey liked being a flower, although eating with the big flower on was a bit problematic,

And Katleyn wore her hat for half of the time and was happy to get home, take off the skirt and run around the kitchen with a lolipop.

A successful evening, although we bought too much candy! We probably only got 7 groups of people tonight. So if you want some of ours, you can have all that you want!

I think we will enjoy the good stuff....and then the rest will start disappearing very soon....

Katelyn

Two things Katelyn loves to do:

It looks like she is coming to enjoy "reading" as much as Brandon and Lindsey do. I found her in their bedroom one morning with book in hand reading to herself. So cute! 

She apparently is also very health conscious. Well, she likes to imitate her big brother and sister anyway! She loves playing with their toys. 

My little baby is growing up!

Apple Pie Recipe

Here is my apple pie recipe, by request. The apple filling comes from a recipe I grew up with and the crust recipe is from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook (otherwise known as the cooking bible).

Perfect Apple Pie

6-8 tart, pared, cored and sliced apples (not too thin!)

3/4 c. sugar

2 Tbsp. flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 Tbsp. butter

Slice the apples into a big bowl. If they lack tartness, sprinkle with about 1 Tbsp. lemon juice. Combine sugar, flour, spices and a dash of salt; mix into the apples. Line 9 inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with apple mixture; dot the top with butter. Adjust the top crust cutting slits to let steam escape - or a cute design of some kind; seal. Sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until done. (I cover the edges with foil and take it off for the last 10 minutes to let it brown.)

Double-Crust Pie Dough 

2 1/2 cups flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

8 Tbsp. vegetable shorening, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen in stick form until firm - if you use regular butter, decrease the salt to 1/2 tsp.

6-8 Tbsp. ice water

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add chilled shortening and press into the flour, using a fork. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater into the flour mixture, then cut the mixture together, using two butter knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 6 Tbsp. of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatua until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until it does. Divide the dough into two even pieces and flatten each into a 4- inch disk. Wrap the disks tightlyy in plactic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it out and fitting it into a pie plate. (I like to roll it out between two sheets of wax paper.)  

Fun Fall Family Home Evening

We took the kids up to Squaw Peak to enjoy the end of the fall colors and to see the views before it snows for FHE tonight. 

We decided to start the hike out the actual peak, but didn't make it all the way. We headed back before the sun went down. But it was just beautiful! 

The kids had fun seeing the beauty of nature, and we talked about this beautiful earth that God has created for us. Got to enjoy the nice weather while we have it!

Our Big Fireside

This year I am serving on the MBA Spouse Association Board as a co-chair in the Spiritual Committee. (Is that a mouth full?) Anyway, our biggest event this semester was to put on a fireside for all students/spouses and faculty. Our turn-out was pretty good....about 140 adults and 60 or more kids in the babysitting we provided. We had my uncle Jim speak. He did a great job!

I conducted the Spouse Association choir in the special musical number and they did so great. It was fun for me to get into conducting again.

It's a relief to have it over with, and I'm glad we get a little break before planning the next one in the winter semester. I keep hoping life will calm down a little bit. Hopefully it will now!

Sweet

I just love walking into the kids' room and see them playing nicely with each other. Lindsey had spread the quilt over their legs and was helping Katelyn draw a picture on the doodle thingy. She is learning how to be a great big sister.

Our Weekend in Seattle

Since Justin has an offer with Amazon, he was invited to fly back with all the other interns that got offers to meet with potential groups that they can choose to work on. They invited me to come as well. It really worked out great because my sister and brother-in-law were available to move in and be the parents while we went on our trip (THANKS Mar and Rob!). It actually felt very strange and a little boring being on a flight without kids! We've never been on a trip without them before. But I managed to enjoy some down time. 

Amazon put us up in a very modern, posh hotel called the

  "W Hotel." 

I've never been in a place quite like it. It was very nice!

This bathrobe was so comfy! :)

On Friday while Justin was at Amazon going to meetings I decided that I would have some fun. I went across the street to the Starbucks and had a pumpkin scone and hot chocolate for breakfast (I don't recommend their hot chocolate...however the carmel apple cider is really great) and then hit the streets. It was really nice to be familiar and comfortable there, especially since I was by myself. I walked down three blocks to our old apartment then walked over to Pike's Place Market. 

It was fun to see my favorite produce stand from the summer, 

and I loved seeing all of the boquets as I walked by the flower vendors. I took some pictures of my favorite ones since I couldn't get any. 

I enjoyed five hours of shopping without kids, which never happens, so it was really fun! I did buy a few things for the kids on clearance (it was actually nice because it wasn't completely picked over like it usually is in Utah). Then I did some Christmas looking for Justin and some shoe shopping for me. I did find this neat store, and thought of my tall sisters and other tall girls in the world. 

Don't get your hopes up though. It's pricey! 

I just had to include some pictures of the shop windows of one of my favorite shops in Seattle, called Luly Yang. I've never been inside it, but we walked by it almost every week over the summer on our way to the library. I just love the dresses and the way she displays them. They're so fun to look at, even though I couldn't wear most of them. Great job Luly! 

Friday evening we enjoyed a housing presentation and a great dinner and talked with the other interns until 11 pm. Saturday morning we jumped on a bus to go on a 3 hour neighborhood tour. Here is Justin by Green Lake, a great lake and neighborhood that we can't afford to live in. But it's pretty!

 

This was such a neat tree. I loved all the colors, all at the same time. 

After the bus tour, we had some time before our flight home, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. It was so delicious! I had the best salmon I've ever tasted and our cheesecake was too pretty to eat! 

Thanks Amazon. 

And finally a couple of pictures from our airplane window. 

Will we ever be back? That's the big question!