Husband and Father

Husband and Father
July 15, 1958 ~ August 25, 2008

Monday, October 31, 2011

Jack-o'-lanterns


The The finished product!

Pumpkins inscribed with ghoulish faces and illuminated by candles are a sure sign of the Halloween season. Porches are lined with carved pumpkins often depicting a face which may be cheerful, scary, or comical. Some pumpkins are not mere faces, but have actual characters etched on them.

Our skills used at our annual pumpkin carving party with the Fulk’s continue to improve. This year some challenged their carving skills, and carved more detailed and intricate designs. Other’s continued with the “old reliable” patterns. Whatever your pleasure, they were all fabulous!

Once the carving was complete, the pumpkins were illuminated and became Jack-o’-Lanterns. Each pumpkin’s charm came to life. They are now ready to light the way of the scary trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

We love our annual pumpkin carving party with our wonderful friends! The night is always filled with great food, fun, and fabulous company!

Glowing in the dark!

Happy carvers/crafters. My pumpkin is the one on the end with the ribbons.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Successful Blackout #4




The Ute’s Blackout football games began 4 years ago to promote team spirit and unity. Within the walls of the stadium resides 45,000 fans all dressed in black awaiting their Runnin’ Utes. The atmosphere is filled with excitement, anticipation, and adoration towards football and the players.

In this year's Blackout game, the Runnin'Utes dominated in the first half against their opponents the Oregon Beavers. My favorite player John White, aka, Wolfman, got his hand on the football 35times, and ran 205 yards.

While the second half didn’t bring out the best in the Utes, they ended with a mighty victory over Oregon 27-8.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Halloween Traditions

Halloween celebrations begin with decorating the house, and porch; choosing the perfect pumpkins at Pack’s Pumpkin Patch; school “fall” parties; Friend parties; Grandpa and Grandma’s Halloween party; carving pumpkins with the Fulks’; and of course trick-or-treating.

No wonder Ben said, “Do you know what one of my favorite holidays is? It’s Halloween!”

At Grandpa and Grandma Brown's party, we enjoy chili, soup, scones, fishing, pinatas, and of course the donut game. No matter what your age, it is a fun time for all!
Andrea, Lizzy, and Liz
Cousins

Games

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Airplanes, and Sticky Eyeballs

Lately, Ben has been fascinated with paper airplanes. He meticulously constructs his dart designed paper airplane to fly high and far. Ben and his friends have been flying their nicely crafted paper airplanes over the 2nd floor balcony into my family room and foyer. Innocent enough, right? Wrong! These airplanes have been making crash landings into my lovely chandelier. The chandelier is located in the entrance of my home where there are high ceilings. I don’t own a ladder tall enough to reach the aircraft. So……we have paper airplanes in my chandelier.


Halloween gooey eyeballs are also a pet peeve of mine. It was a bad idea for me to bring them as prizes to Grandma’s Halloween party. Now I have 10 sticky, gooey, eyeballs, stuck to the ceiling in the entrance of my home. Did I mention my high ceilings? Yep, they aren’t coming down any time soon. Not very funny!
However, there was a gooey eyeball stuck strategically to the ceiling in my room, just waiting for the perfect time to make me laugh. One night as I climbed into my comfy bed, laid my head on my soft pillow, I opened my eyes and to my surprise an eyeball was staring back at me. Since it is a reachable eyeball, it’s funny, non reachable eyeballs, not so funny.

I sometimes wonder where my children get all these crazy ideas, and then I remember some of Steve’s famous practical jokes. Back when we had infants, he took a poopy diaper, placed it in a plastic bag, and placed it under my pillow. What a lovely surprise I had when I nestled into my nice comfy bed.

I must say, if I had to choose I'd rather have a sticky eyeball staring at me then a poopy diaper under my cushy pillow. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Stash

Kitchen widow seal

Meg to Ben: "What's up with all the flies in the window seal?"
Ben (with great enthusiasm): "You should see my stash in the laundry room!"
Laundry room window seal

Warning: You might want to ask for a paper cup to drink from at my house.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Packs Pumkin Patch











Thursday during our UEA break, we planned and executed our annual trip to Pack’s Pumpkin Patch. We met Jodi and her two cute girls (one more on the way) as we usually do. Lizzy loves to mother the two girls, especially Tyli since Ty will let Lizzy carry her around. We love these girls and their cute mom.

This is the place we pick our own pumpkins from the field to carve with the Fulks’. Pumpkin carving has taken on a whole new dimension at the Brown household. There is also a very young child hay maze with a scarecrow picture gallery.

We were a little disappointed this year that there was no corn maze. This might be our last year at Packs Pumpkin Patch. We may be moving on to a more adventurous corn maze for older children.

Regardless of our let down from the corn maze, we LOVE spending time with the Fulks’and had a great time.

Christmas Dance Invitation


Invitations to the Bountiful High School Christmas Dance have already begun. If you are thinking this must be another girl's choice dance, you are correct. "What"? I exclaimed as invitations were distributed just days after the Halloween Dance. I guess the saying, "The early bird gets the worm", applies here as well.

I'm just enjoying having a boy this time around!

Wadded Paper


Wednesday, I picked Ben up at the Elementary School for his dentist appointment. He was leaving for the day, so he opened his school locker to retrieve his backpack. As I looked in his locker, I noticed several papers wadded up at the bottom of his locker. Among the crumpled papers I found this award.

I guess I should be relieved I didn't find a "Falcon Fumble", but then again, I think a parent's signature is required for those.

Way to go Ben!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Generations of Apple Pies



If you aren't lucky enough to have an apple tree; apples such as these can be found at Farmer's Markets or other street vendors.


Making Apple Pies

Josh and Sarah

Grandma Brown’s apple pies have been a recipe handed down through generations. Even the apples produced for the pies are generational. They are harvested and picked from an apple tree that was planted my Grandpa Brown’s parents. The tree is over 100 years old.

This year for the annual apple pie making, with aunts, in-laws, and grandma, and grandpa, I brought Sarah. She had a day off school and was able to come and learn the pie making process. It warmed my heart to watch her being taught by her grandmother the culinary art of making pie crust. We made enough pies to last the winter. Sarah even got to take home her own pie.

Since college was on fall break she was also able to spend time with time with some of her favorite cousins.

This is grandma’s Apple pie recipe:

DOUBLE CRUST PIE
•2 cups White All Purpose Flour
•1 teaspoon salt
•3/4 cup Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening, chilled
•1/4 cup ice cold water

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:
1.COMBINE flour and salt in large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2.USE middle of bowl for a well. Place ice-cold water in well, and gently add flour mixture to the well. Toss gently with a fork; push to side of bowl. Repeat just until mixture is moistened and can be formed into a ball. (The dough should hold together when picked up and pressed, and should not crack).

3.ROLL dough gently on lightly floured surface; use a back and forth motion from center. Do not roll over the edge or it will be thin. Turn dough 45 degrees between each roll to keep it round. If dough sticks to surface, dust lightly with flour. Roll to 12 inches in diameter for a 9 inch pie.

INGREDIENTS:•Filling
•6 to 8 medium Granny Smith apples
•1 cup sugar
•2 tablespoons cornstarch
*1 tablespoon lemon juice
•1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste)

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:
1.PREPARE recipe for double crust pie. Roll out dough for bottom crust. Place in 9-inch pie plate. Press to fit without stretching dough. Trim even with pie plate. Do not bake.

2.HEAT oven to 350ºF.

3.PEEL, core and slice apples. Boil apples in water with 1/2 cup sugar until apples are tender. Drain water, toss with 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon (or more) ground cinnamon. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Cover with top crust; seal and flute edge.Cut slits for steam to escape.

4.Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until pie is golden brown and apples are tender.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Autumn Day


Loving the beautiful autumn colors on my brisk Fall walk!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Halloween Dance



Bountiful High School's Halloween Dance was tonight. Mike and Sierra Eggett dressed as a ref and basketball player. Fortunately, the Y on her basketball jersey was inconspicuous, so as not to cause a scandal.

Their day activity included going to the Pumpkin Patch. In the evening they enjoyed a tasty dinner catered at the Grand Ball Room. Aubrey Monson was in their group, so she had some clout with her mom Jana, the owner of the Grand Ballroom, to get a High School dinner catered at such a nice place.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Thriller




Tonight we had a “girl’s night out”. All of my girls, except Kate (college duties were calling), went to The Thriller, at Kingsbury Hall. For those of you not familiar with this production, it has nothing to do with Michael Jackson. That is, other than the performers in the opening act and the finale dancing to The Thriller, one of his greatest hit songs,

The Thriller is a Halloween-themed dance. The Odyssey Dance Theatre takes your favorite Halloween characters and portrays them in fun, entertaining settings and contexts. Frightening zombies search the audience for victims to scare. There is a lot of humor in the show, using skeletons, mummies, and even the use of a chain saw.

When Sarah was a High School Junior, she invited me to attend the Thriller at Bountiful High School with her. It was performed by the talented Manadelles. I had no expectations going in to the dance since I had never heard about, or even seen the Thriller before.

The auditorium was packed that night. Dancers were displayed in the lobby; still as mannequins, with frightening make-up, disheveled hair, and chilling costumes. The ambiance was that of a scary horror movie.

It was dark, but we finally found two seats at the end of a row. Before the dance commenced, I was sitting in my seat when I got a strange feeling someone was watching me. I looked down to my right, in the aisle, and saw one of the scary creatures from the lobby squatted down, starring at me. Scared half to death, I scream as loud as I could and may have uttered a bad word (a bad word for me, not really a bad word).

Fortunately, I had a hood on my jacket that I could place over my head when the roars of laughter and cheers of the students (and maybe some adults) exuded through the audience. The frightening creature may have been pleased with the shock she created, but her expression never changed. Sarah ducked down in her seat to avoid being associated with the person that caused such a spectacle.

Tonight, I was prepared. No screams, no spectacle, just an enjoyable evening with the girls.

National Honors Society


Last night Mike was inducted into the National Honors Society at Bountiful High School. To get an invitation for this event, you must have a grade point average of 3.8 or higher and complete hours of community service. The pictures are poor quality because I had to take them secretively. Mike doesn't like the lime-light, but I'm proud of him and had to post it on our family scrapbook sight (ie. the blog).

Congrats Mike!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Answering To The Halloween Dance

Mike answered to the Halloween Dance last week. At dinner, he asked his siblings and brother-in-laws, how he should answer. They came up with a creative, and unique plan.

Using the "leaf" theme that the person who had asked him had used, he composed a sign that read: I would be blown away to go to the dance with you. The sign was to be placed underneath a pile of leaves that he and his friends had raked at numerous houses. He borrowed a leaf blower from his brother-in-law to complete the task.

After delivering a pile of leaves and poster to her porch, his friend Jeremy hid in the bushes with the leaf blower. When the mother and daughters answered the door, Jeremy turned on the blower and started blowing the leaves.

The mom and daughters started screaming in fright. They thought Jeremy had a chain saw. A helpful neighbor heard the commotion and ran across the street to save them. He chased Jeremy down the street for some time before he gave up his pursuit.

Mike's potential date was laughing the next day at school. Hopefully, all is well and she will still be taking him to the dance. As for Jeremy, he deserves the friend of the year award.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Duet Piano Recital

Ben and Lizzy played in the Annual Duet Recital for the students of Linda Jo Whitman, their piano teacher. Ben played with Dallas Whitman, A Mysterious Adventure by Bober. Lizzy performed Rhythm and Boogie, written by Bastien, with Allie Foster.

All students participated in the Duet Federation which was held the next day. The students perform two duets that were judged. Lizzy and Ben both did a fabulous job!

Value Project

Remember this? I am happily enjoying the perks of another Personal Progress Value Project! Kate helped Lizzy type and organize my recipes. This is a project I have wanted to do for quite some time, but have never gotten around to it. Thanks girls!


Now, to get the boys' involved. I am sure there are some things I can benefit from in the Duty To God Booklet, and Ben's scouting book!

I used to hyperventilate and get severe anxiety each time a new booklet was introduced. However, I am learning that (1) the kids have amazing advisors that help them with these accomplishments, (2) I have personally been a recipient of great service, and most importantly (3) the kids are learning great skills, their testimonies are getting stronger, and they are learning to serve others.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

A Brilliant Man

It has been said that Steve Jobs has changed the world as we know it. He is remembered and defined as a visionary man, a genius. Many lives have been dramatically changed by the technology he produced.

Unfortunately, I am a little "behind the times". My limited knowledge and antiquated "techno -gear" has not brought me to the "Apple Sphere". My wish list still includes: an I-Phone, an I Pad, an Apple Computer, and an I-Pod, all of which I do not own yet. Someday, I hope to purchase some of these items and to have an even greater appreciation of Steve Jobs and his extraordinary abilities.

As I have read news articles on this acommplished man, and watched eulogies of his life, I have a great admiration for him. His life has and will inspire many. There are several quotes from his commencement speech at Stanford University that are particularly profound to me. They are as follows:

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

He has taught me to live in the moment. Be yourself. Do not fear rejection, or failure, and live each moment as if it were your last.

We have learned a lot from this brilliant man, his legacy lives on.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

No Retaliation

It takes a lot of courage for a teenage boy not to retaliate when a nice vehicle that you have been driving has been defiled. I was really proud of Mike for withstanding the temptation to even the score.

Last night, his friends gathered on the front lawn discussing what they were going to do. Each time I would drive in and out of the driveway taking kids here and there, I would roll down my window, smile, and say, "take the high road Mike".

At curfew, when he checked in with me, I asked if he taken revenge. He smiled and informed me that he had not. What a good kid!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Pranks


Some pranks are not funny at all. This happens to fall in that category for me. Unfortunately, one of the passengers in the truck left the window down; fortunately, we have seat covers covering the seats. We believe it was road-kill, but none the less, disgusting. Mike came home, and scrubbed, and scrubbed to get the raccoon blood out of the seat covers.

Mike knows who was behind the shenanigans and wants to retaliate. I think its best left alone. I had to guarantee him punishment immunity in order for him to confess his retaliatory plan. I hope he takes the high road, and does nothing, but if by chance he follows through with his plan, it is at least not harmful or mean.