Halloween Traditions

Our first Halloween together as a married couple.  We needed a few traditions! 

There would of course be pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating (although not this year), but we created a new tradition for Halloween that neither of our families have done.

Coloring and Movie Watching

Even though hardly anything would please Chris more than sitting down with a box of Legos, some Hot Wheels, or blocks and act like a kid for several hours, there’s a bit of a kid in me too.  I love coloring.  Sit me down with some crayons and a coloring book and I’m set for several hours. 

This year was our first Halloween coloring Halloween pictures.  Our plan is to color pictures each year as a family, mount them on colored paper and hang them on the wall for the month of October.  Cheesy, yes, but I’m pretty sure there will be some memorable times down the road. 

It's an Elephant Bunny!

After coloring we got all cozy with our blankets and hot chocolate and watched Nightmare Before Christmas.  Chris was singing, “This is Halloween” for several days afterward.  We will most definitely be watching a different movie next year so I don’t have to hear that song again.

Carving Pumpkins

The Monday (or weekend) before Halloween has been designated as our Pumpkin Carving day.  I take great care in choosing my pumpkin.  It can’t be too big or too small, and it has to have a flatish side on it for carving.  I found the perfect one at Albertsons. (I can’t wait ‘til we have kids and take them to a real pumpkin patch). Chris insisted on getting a normal pumpkin and a “Big Bertha” pumpkin to “do something crazy with!”  Of course we couldn’t resist getting a small pumpkin for the little one growing inside of me. 

We had fun listening to Halloween music, and gutting and carving our pumpkins with our kitchen knives.  (Next year we’re investing in pumpkin carving knives so we can make more intricate designs). 

He did pretty good carving "Happy Halloween" with a kitchen knife

The baby pumpkin has a bow tie and a hair bow!  Cute huh? 

Other things we did this year:

Went to the Straw Maze with some friends.  The wives decided our husbands were like dogs.  They kept saying, “My instincts are telling me this is the right way to go.”  Well we did eventually get out, but not without some help from the wives.

 

We also had a Halloween party, where I lost miserably at Farkle, but dominated in Dominos.  And I got to play Dominos with a granny!  (You’d have to watch Julian Smith’s “Granny Games” to get it).

"Wanna play Dominos?" 

We had Minions, the Flintstones, and Little Red Ridding Hood and grandma

I think one of the best parts of the night was coloring Chris’s hair purple with wash-out hair coloring.  I let him grow out his hair for two months in preparation for being a purple Minion.  He spiked it and I sprayed the dye all over it. 

My costume wasn’t all too amazing.  I was able to fit into it, but it wasn’t all too flattering, and we couldn’t find overalls or a yellow beanie for me to wear L  Next year it’ll be better. 

Even though we didn’t get one trick-or-treater we still had a memorable Halloween J

A Recipe for Overindulgence

Labor Day weekend Chris and I were able to take a trip back to Tri-Cities for a few days.  We both overindulged on a few things.

On Saturday I felt a little under the weather.  You know regular pregnancy stuff, nauseous, not realizing when I’m hungry, never being full enough, always being too full.  That kind of normal everyday sickness.  To ride this wave of nausea, I decided to read Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack, a “culinary murder mystery”. 

I could not put this delicious book down.

Sadie Hoffmiller had a pretty normal life, until her neighbor is murdered and she’s a suspect.  But Sadie, a 52 year-old widow, has a don’t-mess-with-me attitude and decides to help solve the mystery.  On the way to solving the crime she bakes some delicious treats, which she so graciously shares with her audiences, including recipes for Lemon Tart, Cinnamon Ginger Cookies, Homemade Alfredo Sauce, and Sadie’s Better Brownies, which I’m dying to make.

I overindulged in reading.  I finished the 320-page book in one day.  Lemon Tart inspired me to include some recipes I tried last weekend in my blog post.

…

In between chapters of Lemon Tart I made a double layer chocolate cake for my mom.  I had made it a week before going to Tri-Cities, and upon sending a picture of it to my mom, she made it very apparent she wished at that moment she were in Rexburg to try some.  I decided to make one when I was at home, but instead of making the same cake I would experiment.  And what better place to do some food experimentations than a place where I don’t have to buy the ingredients!

Instead of using plain old Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix, I decided to use my friends, Jackie’s, recipe for Yummy in My Tummy Chocolate Cake.  The final product turned out fantastic—better than the cake I made in Rexburg a week earlier.  That was mainly due to the fact that Jackie’s chocolate cake recipe blended perfectly with our family’s homemade frosting concoction (with the help of Jefferson I added the right amount of chocolate coco instead of guessing), and Betty Crocker’s ganache.  What I ended up with was my

Overindulgence on Chocolate Cake

Make a batter of Jackie’s Yummy in My Tummy Chocolate Cake (found here). 

Instead of using bunt or a regular cake pan, divide cake batter into two 8” or 9” circle cake pans.   Cook on 325 for about 25 minutes. 

*My mom taught me that if you put wax or parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, the cakes will come out easier.  You still have to spray the pan though!

Let cakes cool. 

Chocolate Frosting

1 lb of powdered sugar

¼ cup softened butter (use the real stuff)

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup milk (if you’re lactose intolerant almond milk works perfect ;)

2 tbls coco powder

Mix all ingredients together and mix until smooth.  May need to add more milk or powdered sugar depending on how thick you want your frosting to be (I like mine thick J).

Place one cooled cake on cake stand.  Frost just the top of cake.  Carefully place second cake on top of first cake.  Frost the top and sides of cake.

Betty Crocker’s Chocolate Ganache

1/3 cup whipping cream

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like a little more in mine)

Heat whipping cream in non-stick pan over oven. DO NOT BRING TO BOIL! 

Remove from heat and add chocolate chips, stirring them in until they are melted. 

Let stand for about 5-7 minutes. 

Pour ganache in middle of cake and push to the sides of cake, allowing some to dribble down the sides.

Top the cake with your favorite candy.  Wilson suggested Gummy Bears. I declined that idea.  I’ve used chocolate mints, Reeses, and Hershey Bars.  The more chocolate the better!

Warning: this cake may or may not result in a chocolate induced coma. 

...

As I was battling nausea, reading Lemon Tart, and making my chocolate cake, Chris and my brothers were enjoying the sunshine on the Columbia River.

Someone trying to do a barrel roll

How many tubes can you pull behind a boat? 

Chris was a white boy when he went out on the river and a red one when he got back.  He handled the almost two-degree burn well . . . until the day before it started to peel.  He explained the sensation on his skin as “the most irritable itch below the surface of my skin” he has ever experienced. 

Recipe for overindulgence in the sun:

SUNBLOCK! And lots of it!

Apply liberal amounts of chosen sunblock to exposed parts of body.  Do Not Eat!

…

Sunday was our last day in Tri-Cities.  After church we had dinner with my family.  I had begged for mom for weeks to make me “that one veggie thing that you and Grammie make.”  She didn’t fail.  I had two helpings. 

On our way back to Rexburg we stopped in Hermiston to pick up some vegetables from Grandpa’s garden.  While there my grandparents fed us.   We had some of Grandpa’s corn (and he grows the best corn on this planet, and I’ve had Illinois corn in Illinois) as well as “that one veggie thing that Mom and Grammie make.”  I laughed to myself when I saw it sitting on the counter, hot and bubbly, waiting for Chris and I to dig in. 

Chris and I overindulged in vegetables that day.  According to my learning’s that’s not a bad thing.

 “That One Veggie thing that Mom and Grammie Make”

Cut up any vegetable in your garden into thin slices. 

My mom uses:

Onions

Potatoes (preferable red)

Zucchini

Squash

Bell Peppers

Mix cut vegetables in a bowl with salt, pepper, 2 tbls Mrs. Dash, 1 tbls Italian Seasoning (optional), and some garlic powder (optional), and whatever other spices you want to add.  My mom adds olive oil “to help the spices slide around.”

Spread on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with cheese (optional).  Bake in oven at 400 for about 25-30 min, or until potatoes are tender. 

…

My grandparents were not shy about giving Chris and I as many vegetables as we wanted, plus more.  When we would say that’s enough tomatoes, or enough peppers, Grammie would continue to fill our bags with at least 3, 4, maybe 8 more vegetables.  We had a box full of tomatoes, and several bags of peppers, including bell peppers, jalapeños, banana peppers, and, as Grandpa put it, “I-don’t-know-what-these-kind-are-but-they-are-more-mild” peppers.  I won’t even mention how many zucchini they gave us. 

I was never thrilled about fried zucchini, so when we arrived in Rexburg I cracked open my Our Best Bites cookbook, looking up a recipe for zucchini bread. 

I found two.  One was Chocolate Zucchini Bread, and the other, Zucchini Banana Muffins.  I made both, which, combined calls for 4½ cups of shredded zucchini.  We still have a ton of zucchini left. 

Here’s to overindulgence on zucchini! 

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Photo taken from ourbestbites.com

Since I wouldn’t change anything in this recipe, I’ll let Sara and Kate tell you how to make it.  Just click here for the recipe. 

One-Bowl Zucchini Banana Muffins

(This recipe is not on their website L)

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I like to add a bit more)

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I like to add a bite more)

1 medium banana, mashed

1½ cups grated zucchini

       1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.

       2.     Melt butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl.  Add sugars, egg, and vanilla, and stir to combine.

       3.     Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level with a knife.  Add to mixing bowl, but do not stir.  Sprinkle baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg over flour.  Using a whisk, lightly stir dry ingredients together and then use a rubber spatula to stir just until flour mixture is incorporated into batter.  Add mashed banana and zucchini and stir until combined.

       4.     Divide batter evenly into muffin cups, filling about three-fourths full or a little fuller.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only small crumbs attached.

I may or may not have had 4 of these for breakfast. 

…

Now it’s time to make some salsa!  We just have to find a recipe that calls for about seven jalapeños.

This picture doesn't exactly go with the blog...but I thought it was cute. 

Chris + Me = Three

It was a scary and exciting moment when Chris and I found out we would be parents. 

The feeling I was pregnant wouldn’t leave me for a week and a half.  So one morning before work I took a pregnancy test.  I kept looking at the two pink lines that had appeared in the little screen thinking it was broken and not 100% sure I wanted those two pink lines to be telling the truth.  It was still a few months before Chris and I had planned on starting a family, plus I didn’t feel prepared to be a mom.  I barely knew how to be a wife!  For the next few days the thought of a possible embryo growing inside me was constantly in the back of my mind. 

This “possible embryo” turned into a “real embryo” before I saw the black and white ultra sound.  When I started to get sick I began to come to terms that the embryo wasn’t something the pregnancy test made up.  The entire month of June and well into July I couldn’t keep my breakfast down, all I did was lay around the house when I wasn’t at work, and I ate very little, well compared to what I used to eat. 

It took Chris a little longer to believe the embryo was real.  That’s probably because he wasn’t the one throwing up at least once a day. 

Within a week and a half I lost three pounds, which wasn’t a big deal, but still scared me.  If I kept throwing up the way I was, would my little baby get any nutrition?  The answer was yes.  The throwing up subsided over time (although at 16½ weeks I’m still throwing up about three times a week), and I’m slowly beginning to eat larger portions of food.   At my last appointment the midwife said that my baby was growing.  “So we know it’s getting the nutrition it needs even if you’re not,” she said. 

Motherhood Lesson #1: You always sacrifice yourself for your child.  I have an A+ in that right now, not that I have a choice. 

When I first saw the black and white ultra sound I didn’t really know what to look for.  The ultra sound tech said our baby would look like a gummy bear (this was at eight weeks).  She was right.  And that little gummy bear was Chris’s and mine.  It was extremely hard to believe the little baby we saw on the screen was ours, though exciting at the same time.  Chris later told me he almost cried when he saw it.  Every time we go in for a regular check-up and hear our baby’s fast, little heartbeat Chris tears up.  I can tell he’s excited to be a dad.  

For me the joy of becoming a mother is diminished slightly by the fact that frankly I don’t like being pregnant at times.  I’m sure Chris is tired of me saying, “I hate being pregnant” after I throw up, or some unexpected but completely normal pregnancy symptom randomly decides to pop up right before bed.  I also worry about taking care of a newborn.  I’ve heard about the sleepless nights, and the babies who cry and cry and cry, and you don’t know what to do to make them stop.  I wonder if I’ll know what to do in those situations or even how to raise a child. 

Despite these worries, I have sometimes felt this is the right time for a child to come into our family.  I am the vessel to bring a Spirit Child of our Heavenly Father’s into the world.  The Lord has trusted me, a human being who makes mistakes, who isn’t the most patient person in the world, and who is lactose intolerant (which means my child will never know what home-made lasagna tastes like unless Grandma Christensen or Uncle Jefferson makes it for them J).  Nevertheless, the Lord is permitting me to carry, bare, and raise one of his children.  This thought humbles and scares me.  I have heard of the joys of motherhood from my friends and hold onto that when worries start to come into my mind.

And just for your information Chris and I will be welcoming our son or daughter into our family on January 26, 2014. 

What Happens in Reno . . .

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” 

But what about what happens in Reno?

I’ll tell you.

In Reno it’s 70 degrees

In Reno there are stores that would blow your mind

In Reno you will meet the nicest people

In Reno the highway system is confusing

In Reno it’s 70 degrees

In Reno there are quite a few dead animals

In Reno everyone loves the Wolf Pack

In Reno people are still cowboys

Oh, and did I mention that in Reno it’s 70 degrees?

Chris served part of his mission in the Reno area two years ago.  We decided to visit, mostly because some members whom he was very close with invited him to their baby’s blessing.  We were a week late for the baby blessing, but we still had adventures, and saw the Lord’s love for His children.  Two of my favorite adventures were:

 

1) Downtown:

Chris told me that Reno was the biggest little city in the world.  I didn’t understand what he meant until we drove through downtown Reno.  It felt like we were on a movie set.  The big buildings and flashing lights that lined the streets of downtown didn’t last very long.  In Chicago you could drive around for miles and not run out of skyscrapers and traffic.  In Reno you ran out of these things fast.  The streets weren’t as crowded as I thought they’d be, and oddly enough a lazy peace lay over the city.  No one was cutting us off, and there were no horns or screeching tires. Chris explained to me that people ran on “Cowboy Time” in northern Nevada, meaning no one was in a rush to get anywhere.  My favorite part about walking in Reno was the 70-degree weather. 

Instead of directing me to downtown Reno, Chris wanted to walk along the river that ran though the city.  We hadn’t walked ten minutes until we were out of downtown and by a quiet neighborhood.  Chicago is still my favorite city, but I fell in love with the lazy peace that I felt in Reno.  The rest of our vacation mirrored the slow-moving city of Reno.

Chris and I at the "river" by that flows through Reno

2) Scheels:

 “There’s a big airplane in there hanging from the ceiling, and a Ferris wheel inside the store, and every possible outdoor thing you can imagine!” he told me as we drove along the twisty highway.  I went to Scheels purely for Chris’s sake.  I would much rather have stayed outside in the 70 degree weather than be stuck in a store full of guns, tents, basketballs, and cameo gear.  What Chris forgot to mention was that Scheels had animals in it, granted most of them were dead, but it was still more exciting than the warm weather.  When we walked in the first thing I noticed was a gigantic arched fish tank separating the checkout stands and the main part of the store.  There were fresh-water fish two feet long swimming in the tank.  In the gun section of Scheels there were about 100 taxidermy animals hanging on the walls

Chris feeding a "deer". 

(those are dead animals that are stuffed for those of you who, like me, didn’t know that before this past weekend).  Not to mention the huge “mountain” artistically covered in taxidermy animals from grouse, to coyote, to moose, to wolf.   I was in aw at how big some of the moose were, and how beautiful the wolves were.  Looking at the animals made me realize how great God is.  He made these magnificent animals for His children to enjoy and learn about.   I didn’t get board in that store, and when we went back the next day with some friends I wasn’t too disappointed.

My favorite part of the vacation was meeting people Chris knew on his mission.

The man who gave us 75 cents so we could park in downtown:

The machine used for paying to park in downtown Reno wasn’t reading our card.  After fifteen minutes of swiping and reswiping our card, my temper was hotter than the 70-degree weather.  I was getting fed up with downtown Reno, and Heavenly Father wasn’t answering my silent prayers of “Can you please get this machine to work!”  On our way to another machine we passed a man who had the same problem.  As he passed us he handed us 75 cents.  We scrounged around in our pockets and car eventually finding 75 more cents.  We could now stay in downtown for 1 ½ hrs instead of just 45 minutes.  Though the Lord didn’t answer my hotheaded prayer immediately, He did answer it, and not in the way I had expected.

The Fogelbergs:

We arrived in Reno at 11p.m. Thursday night.  The Fogelbergs stayed up and waited for us to come.  They gave us their little boy’s room to sleep in, and opened up their home to us while we were in Reno.  Their home was not spacious, yet because of the love they have for my husband they let us stay with them.  While getting to know the Fogelbergs I saw how the love and trust Chris developed with this family two years ago continued to pulse blood through thier friendship.  “Brother Fogelburg is like my brother . . . or my cousin!  I feel like he’s someone I’ve known for a long time,” Chris said.  I was amazed at how the love of Christ can carry a friendship over distance and time.   When those two talked it was as if they hadn’t seen each other in a couple days, not two years.

The Fowlers:

Chris had the privilege of baptizing one of the Fowler’s friends while serving in Reno.  She is now attending BYU-Idaho.  When we went over to visit the Fowlers, Sister Fowler made us chocolate ice-cream bowls, and the whole family shared memories they had while Chris was serving there.  (There were airsoft gun stories included in these memories).  Appreciation oozed from the Fowlers as they and Chris shared spiritual and funny experiences.  It reminded me of my mission, and people I met in the Chicago area.  I wondered if any of them would have as much appreciation for me as the Fowlers did for Chris.  They trusted Chris and his companions with their friend, who is now a strong and faithful member. 

The Fowlers

Sister Angle:

In church on Sunday Chris introduced me to an older couple in the ward, the Angles.  Chris informed me that they had served two missions and the missionaries had taught one of their friends.  “They were like our grandma and grandpa,” Chris said.  We stayed for the full three hours of church, and to tell you the truth I was out of my element for most of it.  I knew no one.  I followed Chris around like a puppy dog.  When Chris left me alone in Relief Society I was nervous.  I hated feeling like no one knew me, and I was just the visitor. “Go sit with Sister Angle,” Chris told me before he left for Priesthood.  I slowly made my way to the back of the room where only person I knew in that whole room was sitting.  And even then I had only met her for about ten seconds; I mean we were practically best friends at this point!  When Sister Angle saw me making my way toward her she smiled and patted the seat next to her, then talked with me as if we were best friends.  I felt Christ’s love through her kindness that warm Sunday morning.

Chris and I at the Reno Temple

Taukiuvea Family:

“Did you hear that the Taukiuveas got sealed?” Sister Fogelburg asked Chris.

“No!  They did!  That’s so awesome!” was how a late night conversation started about a part-member family Chris had taught.  They were now all members and an eternal family.  We tried to stop by their house twice, but they weren’t home.  At church we saw them right before we left.  We only talked for about ten minutes, but in those ten minutes I felt the love that this family had for Chris.  The two little girls couldn’t stop smiling at him, and when Brother Taukiuvea saw him a smile spread across is Tongan face.  I can only imagine the love and appreciation this man had for Chris.  Chris had to wait two years to see the fruits of his labor.   Chris helped them in a small step, baptism, which led to a bigger step, sealing in the temple, which will bring the ultimate blessings in the eternities.  This is the true purpose of a missionary. 

The Lord showed me the love He has for each of His children, and more especially how He will constantly show His love for us through the people around us, whether it be a random man on the street, or a family that achieved a temple marriage through our help.   The Lord is forever watching out for each of us, and will usually send an earthly angel to help us on our way.   

Next time I go to Reno I’ll be sure to share with you the adventures we have J