FLU SHOTS... Ouch!

Can I just say that taking five kids to a flu shot clinic is NOT a fun experience!!! Let's hope it is worth it and we avoid the CRUD this winter!

Happy Birthday MARK!!!

November 6th was Mark's birthday! Hooray to the birthday boy! We had a quiet evening at home for his birthday and had Tapioca Pudding for his "cake" and then cupcakes for the kids. I think this is the ONLY time we make tapioca pudding all year. Mark and Brennan are the only ones who like it and the rest of us... well let's just say we prefer the chocolate!

My Turn...

So I just knew this was going to come at some point or another. Now the title of sickest family member falls on Mom's head. UGH! It's been 10 days now that I've been sick and it's SLOWLY improving. I have had strep tests, Mono tests and two antibiotics and we are still battling this. I think that after the crazy month of October and non-stop excitement and adventures, my body finally said... "ENOUGH! Get some REST and then we'll start over!" I'm not sure if I can remember the last time I have been this sick. With a huge blessing from Father in Heaven, so far no one else in the family has gotten what I have and hopefully it will stay that way. I am thinking that we will head to get our flu shots today and try to stop at least a few germs from getting to the Kenison Family this winter. At least I am getting this out of the way before all the business of Thanksgiving and Christmas begins... it's right around the corner!

TOMORROW'S the BIG Day!!!

Time to get some good sleep tonight and be prepared to stand in VERY LOOOONNGG lines tomorrow to VOTE!!! Mark was able to get to the polls the other day to do early voting but he had to wait in line for over an hour and I was not able to make it back before the polls closed. Looks like I am going to try and brave the early hours and try to get in line at 5:30 AM... Am I crazy??? The only day of the year that I even think about those hours is the day after Thanksgiving to go shopping. I LOVE the thrill of the hunt on those days to grab all the great deals that are out there, but I am not so sure about standing in line in the rain for hours to wait and VOTE... However, I WOULD NOT MISS IT... even if I am still really sick right now... but I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about the whole outcome of the many different votes that will be placed tomorrow. Mainly.. President and Prop. 8 in California. We all need to pray HARD tonight!

Pumpkin Carving 101

Brennan counting pumpkins seeds - we had everyone guess to see how many seeds were in a single pumpkin... Tanner was the winner at 427 - but the total was well over 500.

Precise carving... don't mess with Tanner while he is busy carving!

Tate working on his design... after much thought, he decided to try one of stencils that I had bought... I think we would have been better off with his design. These stencils are HARD.

Brock was a little hungry!!! Well maybe not!

Reese was sitting in the middle of the table the whole time having a ball watching everyone.

We Have a New Shopping Addict!!!

Bedtime stories take on a whole new meaning for this little girl. It looks like we have another woman in the family that is going to LOVE to shop!!! This was Reese's first reaction to the always popular Toy's R Us toy catalog for Christmas. She immediately found her way to the bright pink pages and then loudly squaked about every "Pretty" thing that she could see. Everything was "pretty" or "baby" with a whole bunch of OOooooo... as the picture shows! Reese is all about girl things in a BIG way... for those who thought that this little girl at the end of four boys might end up a tomboy... well THINK AGAIN!!! She is ALL GIRL!!!

Note: Mark has a little nervous look on his face... for good reason! Oh my is he in trouble now!

Sick Computer Causes Competition!!!

Well my computer has been giving us trouble for several months now and it's not even a year old... to make a long story short, it crashed last week and would not even boot up anymore. Life without a family computer has made things very interesting. It's not exactly easy to share Mark's business computer with a blog happy- email addict like myself and the kids who have reports due. Let alone the fact that it's a rare moment when you actually find a spare minute to get on Mark's computer. Mark has been putting in some very LONG hours with the market giving everyone fits! I finally have a few minutes to blog a little while he is at a lunch appointment... if the entries are short and nothing but pictures, you'll understand. PLEASE, Hewlett Packard, fix my computer QUICK and ship it back ASAP!!!!

For All You Genealogy Buffs...

My friend Heather has started a great family history gift site with very cute ideas for Christmas. Hope you enjoy the link! However... if you are related to me... I get first dibs on giving these as gifts! Hee, Hee! Check it out... http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6275532

We SURVIVED Dinner Impossible!!!

About a month ago I got a call from one of the leaders at church asking me if I would be the cook for a youth activity / camp out they were having. I was told it was going to be a group of about 160 people and I would need to provide heavy snacks for Friday night and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. In my crazy and somewhat nonfunctional brain - I said.. "Sure! I'd be Happy To!" What was I thinking??? As the time grew closer and I started really adding up all the amounts of food I would need to buy and cook, I found myself thinking that I was about the craziest mother of five kids, who holds three callings at church, and has a husband who serves in the bishopric, ding-dong, brainless person who can't say NO to anything Idiot! I am not sure why I was the one selected to be given this assignment, but I was in NO way able to back out at that point.

SO.....Here's what you end up buying and cooking for 160 people...

Friday we had nachos, popcorn, apples and Carmel dip, and candy

6 cases of tortilla chips

4 - gallon size cans of nacho cheese

2 - bushels of apples

7 - batches of homemade Carmel!!! (Yes - I was stupid for making this! But it was YUMMY)

32 - bags of microwave popcorn. Do you have any idea what you microwave looks like after you pop this much popcorn??? Grease City!!!

3 - Economy size bags of Halloween Candy

Saturday morning we had breakfast burritos, fruit and granola bars...

20 lbs. Jimmy Dean sausage - takes forever to cook.

225 Flour tortillas

360 eggs - Oh my! The shells... we cracked them all ahead of time to get them in the fridge!

15 pounds of shredded cheese

2 gallons of salsa

6 gallons of fruit

2 cases of granola bars

200 packets of hot chocolate

15 gallons of Orange Juice

Saturday at lunch we had taco salad, rice, beans and cookies - can you see the Mexican theme going on??? It sure made things easier to use the leftovers for the next meal!

42 pounds of taco meat - It took Mark and I 4 hours to cook all the meat... we've got huge biceps on our right arms now!

2 cases of tortilla chips

15 pounds of shredded cheese

25 heads of lettuce

2 buckets of sour cream

2 gallons of salsa

10 gallons of rice

15 gallons of refried beans

350 cookies

Thanks to a generous member of the church, he had a restaurant he supplies make the rice and beans... they came in 5 gallon buckets... We barely put a dent in them. We were giving away rice and beans to anyone we could think of!

I am SOOO thankful to the many people who helped in the kitchen this weekend. This was supposed to be a camp out on the stake farm with no running water or kitchen. Thanks to the rain, I was BLESSED to have everything moved to the church where we had a full kitchen and all the comforts of home! HOORAY! I am certainly not ready for this again anytime soon... but at least WE SURVIVED!!!

And then on Sunday I took a LONG nap!!!

Terrible Mommy!!!

So last week, I mentioned that Brock had been sick with a fever and throwing-up all week. By Thursday, he was still running a fever and showing no signs of things letting up. Knowing that I had an incredibly busy weekend having to cook for Zion's Camp, I took him to the doctor hoping that we would fine some reason why he was still SOOO sick. And they DID!!!... in a really bad way!!! Brock had two horribly infected ears that were causing him to be so violently ill that it was causing the really high fevers and the vomiting. I felt like the most AWFUL parent on earth! He had mentioned at the beginning of the week that his ear hurt, but not when we tugged on it or touched it, just when when he touched the top of his ear lobe. I thought, that couldn't be an ear infection, he would be in pain if we did all that and it certainly wouldn't hurt on the outside of his ear. WRONG! To make a long story short... his ears were so bad that they had to give him antibiotic injections in both legs! This was after I had the hardest time convincing him to go to the doctor in the first place and PROMISED him that we were just going to check his ears and they would NOT give him a shot for that! HELLO.. I will never promise such a thing again... who would have thought! By Friday afternoon, he was a different kid. He was feeling so much better and no more fever or puke! Hooray! He is still having trouble hearing, but with as bad as his ears were, I think it will take some time for them to get back to normal. Moral of the story... for heaven's sake, listen to your kids even when it doesn't make sense! Guess I need to go back to Parenting 101.

Cutie for a Buck!!!

Bargain Betty strikes again! I found this darling Ralph Lauren dress at a consignment shop for just $1.00!!! Hooray... What a find! However I could not pass up on the opportunity to expand her ever growing hairbow collection and just had to get a matching bow for $3.00. Hmmm... I think it was worth it for an entire outfit for $4 bucks!

Oh so Pretty!