A Blessed Mom

Emma amazes me with her new-found confidence. Something clicked in her when 5th grade started. She ran for student council and won. She loves the responsibility it has brought. She is on a few committees and is showing great leadership abilities. She has plans to try out for the speed jump team (jump roping) competition in the spring. She also looks forward to competing in the spelling bee. Last year, she advanced to the school finals, but she gave up her spot to the girl who came in second. She was too scared to compete in front of the whole school. This year, she is ready for the challenge. I'm so proud of her. The picture below is of her playing her favorite game of "hotel".

Josh amazes me with his perseverance and sportsmanship. He has completed another season of cross country running. He loves running with his team. Mountain View did great this year, once again. Their races are 3.1 miles long. Josh had a goal this year to finish a race under 20:00 minutes. He did it at the Gibb Floyd Invitational in Kuna. He finished in 19:40. He plans on running during track season in the spring. Hopefully, he'll keep running through the winter so he will be in top shape come March.

Chelsea amazes me with her commitment to excellence. She has always been determined to do well academically. Chelsea has taken AP classes for the past two years. She is also in Spanish 4 and has college credit for it through Boise State University. This week, Chelsea was voted by her senior class as Most Academic. She felt bad for beating one of her friends, but I told her that she deserves it just as much. She is a hard worker with high expectations of herself.

These kids of mine amaze me. I love them more each day. I am one blessed mom.

A Sweet Surprise

What "amazed" me today? It was the generosity and thoughtfulness of some ward members. Our wonderful home teachers, the Bradys, brought us a box full of apples picked from their apple trees. Some are fuji, and the other apples are mystery apples that we will call "Brady" apples. The Bradys haven't been able to figure out what variety they are, but all we need to know is that they are crisp and sweet.

Hmmmmm. What to do with all of these yummy apples? Apple sauce? Pie filling? Make lots of apple crisps? When in doubt...just use your apple corer/peeler/slicer (thanks Lucile) and add a little cinnamon sugar and freeze them in quart sized bags. Get all of the sticky, juicy work done all at one time. Then, when you want apple sauce, pull one out of the freezer and cook some up. If you have the hankerin' for some apple crisp with vanilla ice cream, you'll be set. When your neighbor needs a little extra love and you think an apple pie will solve all of her problems, you can have a pie made in no time at all.

A Little Taste of Fall

Are you in the mood for a new yummy treat that has the taste of autumn? You gotta try this recipe Apple Cider Floats at Our Best Bites. I made these for my Young Women Standards Night last week. Oh, they are gooooood.

Another fav that I must make every fall are Easy Pumpkin Cookies. No picture here, but imagine little orangey brown blobs of goodness. All you need for a half batch is 1 box of Spice Cake mix, 1 15 oz can of pumpkin, and a half bag of mini chocolate chips. Of course you don't have to use mini chocolate chips, but they are just right for these little cookies. Just the right proportion of chocolate per cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for about 14 minutes. A half batch still makes a lot of cookies. I like to use my smallest cookie scoop for these. I think it made about 50 for my Standards Night.

Here is my latest find at Tai Pan Trading that FINALLY opened here in Boise. It is a smaller store than the ones in Utah, but I'm ok with that. This cute, three tier jar was only $7.00 on Friday for the grand opening of the store. My family is gonna love me when they see these treats in here this afternoon when they come home.