The Luckiest Boy in the World

I have to tell this story because it made me laugh my head off while it was happening. A couple days ago we went to Idaho Falls to do some grocery shopping. My Dad had given Kaleb and Cambree each a dollar to buy a treat. I took Kaleb into Wal-Mart while Cory stayed in the van with Cambree and Isaac. As soon as we walked into the first set of doors, Kaleb runs over to the pop machines and pulls out his dollar. I looked and they were all machines that dispense bottles which cost $1.25. I told him, "Sorry buddy, but those pops all cost a dollar and a quarter." So Kaleb looked in all the coin returns and lo and behold finds a quarter pushed clear to the back. I got a pen out of my purse and helped him get the quarter out and we also got a dime that was behind the quarter. So Kaleb was so excited that he now had enough money to buy a drink. He puts his money in and pushed the button for the one he wanted and nothing happened. I got looking and realized the quarter had come out in the coin return thing. So he put it in again and pushed the button for his drink. He pushed the little door open at the bottom of the machine to get the bottle out and realized that TWO had fallen. SO not only did he luck out and find a quarter, but he got 2 drinks for the price of one AND he got a dime to keep in his pocket! He was so happy and I could not stop laughing at how everything had fallen in to place for him. What a lucky boy!

Isaac - One Week Old

I promised some more pictures, but have not had much time to post. Plus, I was working on a cute little project on Scrapblog, but have yet to finish it. So I decided to post these pictures that I took on Isaac's One Week Birthday! (He's officially 10 days old today!)

Introducing...

Isaac Ronald Hall
Born October 18, 2008 at 5:12pm
5 pounds 15 ounces ~ 19 1/2 inches long
Perfect in Every Way!





More pictures to come soon...

EVICTION NOTICE

Butternut Squash Bake

Here is a yummy fall recipe that I found in a Taste of Home magazine a couple of years ago. As soon as we harvested the squash out of the garden, Cory requested I make this. It can be made with any orange flesh squash that is similar to a butternut squash. (It is great for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!) I usually double the amount of topping when I make it. If you have any leftovers, the topping will start to get kind of soggy/chewy when you store it in the fridge, so it's best to eat it within a day or two.




BUTTERNUT SQUASH BAKE

SERVINGS: 6-8

CATEGORY: Side Dish

METHOD: Baked

TIME: Prep: 15 min. Bake: 50 min.

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 small can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups mashed cooked butternut squash

TOPPING:
1/2 cup crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla. Stir in squash (mixture will be thin). Pour into a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45 minutes or until almost set. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over casserole. Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: 6-8 servings.

I've been tagged to do this a couple of times, but I've been having a really hard time coming up with random facts about myself. Here it goes:

1. When I eat cake or cookies, I have to have milk ON them. I always dunk my cookies and prefer to eat cake with milk poured over it in a bowl. I think I inherited this from my Dad!

2. I absolutely hate to MOP! If Cory doesn't give in and do it, our floor will go for weeks without being mopped. (He actually promised me HE would always mop it if I would agree to linoleum floors. I grew up with a very short carpet in the kitchen and dining room that just had to be vacuumed and that's what I wanted.) I would rather clean toilets than mop.

3. I love Little House on the Prairie! It is such a wholesome show! LOL! I actually just finished re-reading the first 5 books and I really want to get the TV Series on DVD. I have always thought it would be cool to be Laura and live back in the olden days!

4. One of the most relaxing thing I do is mow the lawn! My parents have a riding lawn mower and I've always loved mowing the lawn so I can get a tan and have time to myself just thinking and mowing! I have a deal with my Mom that if I mow her lawn, she watches my kids. It gives me a break and gets her yardwork done! (No wonder Kellie has never mowed a lawn - I must have volunteered to do it because it was one of the jobs I liked!)

5. Cory & I were married on July 7, 2000, which of course is the 7th day of the 7th month and we were married 77 days after Cory returned from his mission. On our 7th Anniversary, we joked about going to Vegas because we were celebrating 7 years on 7/7/07! What a lucky number for us!

6. When I was a little girl I wanted to grow up to be a Veterinarian. Then I found out how long I would have to go to school and then bagged that idea. ;)

7. I've always wanted to ride in a hot-air balloon. (Sorry - kinda reaching for a fact for #7) ;)

Now it's your turn! I tag: ANGIE, MANDY, KATHY, JOEY, BOBBI, ROBYN, NIKKI

My 3 Year Old is Going Green!

Last night at dinner, I was sitting at the table while Cambree finished eating. I was squeezing the last little bit of ketchup out of the almost-empty bottle and putting it into the new bottle. Cambree said, "Mom, what are you doing?" I told her and she said, "You need to reuse that bottle!" I asked her what I was going to use it for and she said, "I don't know, but if we just throw it away then it will fill up the landfills and then we won't have anywhere to put our garbage." WHAT?!?! I couldn't believe my 3 year old was telling me about landfills! I asked her where she learned all of that and she told me on TV. OK, now I get it! She had seen some shows recently on PBS that talked about all of this. So then she tried to remember the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" words. I always think my kids are watching too much TV, but then when they learn things like this, I figure maybe TV must not ALWAYS be a bad thing. Yeah for PBS!