"Our door is open..."

© 2009 Carrie Morris

I have a new "open door policy" again on my blog. I've decided to not remain private and to open my blog back up to the public. I went private because of "unwanted eyes" looking at my blog, but I've decided to not let one person dictate how I live my life. I have to live my life how I want to... not in fear, but in freedom. So, we're back to being a public blog... Open door policy. Come one, come all!

Olivia-isms

Olivia had been playing in her room when I noticed it was suddenly too quiet. I asked her from the couch where I was feeding Tagen, what she was doing... No answer. I heard some weird knocking noise coming from that direction. Brad headed towards the room to investigate. When he got around the corner, he started laughing. I walked over to see the above picture. Olivia had turned her toy box upside down and was "hiding" in it. I love that her hair gave her away. She had purposefully made the noises so we'd come see what she was up to. Love this girl!

When I told Olivia to fix her underwear because she had a turkey...

I said, "Olivia, is there a turkey in your bum?" She answered, "No, just my underwear."

After driving back into the Salt Lake valley from the south, Olivia's Aunt Carol

pointed out that there were two temples she could see right away.

Olivia proclaimed, "It's the Promised Land!"

While driving home from Cache Valley, we were playing I Spy with Olivia.

When it came to her turn she said, "I spy my wittle eye, TOO... A great big yawn in my mouth."

Which she promptly followed with the said yawn.

While playing with Brad, she got out her toy stethescope and listened to his heartbeat... This was her diagnosis.."Dada, I'm gonna be the Doctor. I can hear your heartbeat! Is it a good one? No dad. It's a not good one. it's a scary one!" She fixed it then. She gave him a brand new heart and "you're all better now dada. And here's a hat for you too."

When her and Brad were home together for the night she told him, "Daddy! We need have a party!

We can turn on the tv and watch baby Einsteins and have some popcorn! It will be so much fun!"

Olivia told me the other day, "Mom, I remember when I was older and I went to school... I loved it. It was so far away. It was just last night mom, remember?" Guess we either need to teach her past, present and future tenses or we have a time traveler on our hands.

Modesty and Modeling...

At our Achievement Days activity this past week, we talked about modesty. We taught the girls that they should be modest in their dress and in their behavior. Then we split them into groups and challenged them each to design modest articles of clothes out of newspaper. Here are their results. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they did.

Avery Hansen with a dress and hat.

Olivia Campbell with skirt and fancy sleeves.

I loved this picture of Clara, so I had to share both...

Clara Campbell and skirt.

Shelby Moyes with a handbag and scarf.

Shayla LeMay with shoes. Very creative.

Maddie Jenkins with skirt and purse.

Rachel Hall with belt and hat.

Sadie Hansen with long v shaped skirt.

Amanda Whitehead with shirt turned cape.

Abbie Anderson with cape/shawl.

So... if you're ever in need of some new clothing and want it to be modest, contact any of the Achievement Day girls in our ward. They'll be more than happy to help you out.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!

Our little "punkins" before trick or treating.

They have cute little matching shirts.

Olivia doing her "pumpkin dance" as she called it...

Tagen getting one of the treats from the night.

I thought this was harmless in giving to her... Turns out, if you let a baby suck on it long enough, some of her spit will get

down in the packaging and she gets a mild sugar high from the juice off the sucker. :)

Olivia scored in the treat department! Thank fully, she hasn't asked for ANY of her candy today.

Maybe that's because she's eaten two of the many cinnamon rolls I made yesterday.... ha ha!

Mr. Jack O'Lantern

We've never carved pumpkins with Olivia before. We thought this was a good year to start.

Last night while the candy corn cookies were baking, Brad helped Olivia carve her

first Jack-o-lantern. She couldn't figure out why were cutting her

"favorite punkin" until we put the candles inside and lit him up for her.

Making the first incision....

Greasy grimy pumpkin guts....

Olivia wasn't sure what to make of the insides...

Almost finished....

Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween Cookies

My sister forwarded me the address of THIS blog and told me about some adorable candy corn

cookies on the blog that I had to check out. They looked great and SIMPLE so I decided to

make some for FHE last night. Olivia had a great time helping cut the triangles and putting them on the pan. Check them out...

Use this cookie mix, unless you have a recipe you really like...

put in the fridge for about 1 1-2 hours

cut into 1/4" slices and make triangles...

Cook at 375 degrees for 7 - 9 minutes

Enjoy! They are really yummy.

Candy Corn Cookies

2 Betty Crocker Sugar cookie mixes

2 eggs

2/3 cups butter

Food coloring

Mix the cookie mixes, eggs and softened butter.

Divide into thirds and add food coloring.

Put into a loaf pan in layers and refrigerate for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Cut into 1/4" slices and make triangles.

Cook at 375 degrees for 7 - 9 minutes.

Blowing Wishes in the Wind...

I took the girls on a walk today. It was perfect weather... and I was perfectly entertained by Olivia. We used to call this

"Blowing our wishes in the wind..." Makes me wonder what she was wishing for...

I asked Olivia what she was doing and she told me she was "blowing out the flowers."

I guess whatever you call it, it's still fun to do. Go make some of your own wishes while they are still "in season."