The Three Little Pigs

Before I get to the Three Little Pigs... let my explain the first two pictures. The first... "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", or rather, my one front tooth. I really thought we had a few years before the teeth started falling out. We're not even to kindergarten yet. Speaking of, I personally didn't lose a tooth until the second grade!

The second one is Nick and the kids being lazy on a sunday afternoon watching "Polar Express."

Back to "The Three Little Pigs"... Yesterday the three little pigs sat down to build their annual gingerbread house with some of our friends. At first, things seemed to be going well. Mom had neatly baked and cut out all the gingerbread pieces for three families' houses.

Nick took charge in getting our four walls to stand up, which they did quite well. So far so good.

Everyone contributed to the candy... Do we have enough?

Up went the triangle pieces. Moving right along...

Ella was eyeing the sprinkles. Is she planning on putting them on the house, or just devouring them, personally?

Wait a minute, wasn't this thing supposed to keep the icing from getting on your hand? Stupid trinket. Did I say that?

Now for the finale, one house stood well- was it made of bricks? The second held tight for a while- then the roof collapsed - (straw?) and the last, well... let's just say it worked out well for a tasty lumber yard.



Moral of the story...Burn it or buy it. If you're going to make your own gingerbread, you'd better burn it to the point of crisp, rather than soft and tasty, if you don't want those roofs coming down. Or... buy a kit!

Twilight, a quirk, and a RedBull race

So I know that I'm one of the last to finally read the Twilight books... but I can't deny that I'm hooked now. Ten days before the movie came out, I buckled down and decided to read the book. Since the first page, it's been hard to put it down. If I didn't have two kids demanding all my time, I'm sure I'd be finished with all the books by now. But with only a little time here and there to read, I'm in Eclipse now. Love the books. Guess I should have read them long ago. :) Yeah, I know. By the way, I LOVED the movie! Anyway, I guess those books are part of my excuse for why I haven't blogged in a while!

Two funny stories about Jace...
1. Jace has this quirk about how specific he is about things. Recently while I was driving home a babysitter, she told me that in order to show her EXACTLY how far he wanted his door to be open while he fell asleep, he found a jump rope, measured how far from the edge of the open door to his bed and then tied a precise knot to his bed, indicating to the babysitter exactly how far to open the door. We had a good laugh.

2. He has also been using this jump rope to practice roping. He and Nick have been watching the rodeo championships on TV lately. So Nick showed Jace how to make his jump rope into a lasso. (If I'm using the wrong words, I'm not very learned in this area.) Anyway, so Jace has been all interested in being a "cowboy." The other day it suddenly occurred to him, and he exclaimed, "Well if I'm going to be a cowboy, then I'm going to need a bigger rope!" I don't know if the humor comes across in this blog, but it was really funny the way he said it.

So, now for some pictures...

Nick took Jace to Longbeach with our friends to see the RedBull Drift Racing World Championship. Jace had a thrill watching the cars race around the turn that they were standing just feet away from.



I have to say that after the years I spent teaching elementary school, I really love being the Mom now. It's fun to change sides. Jace's preschool did a Thanksgiving play and then had a Thanksgiving feast.


We went to visit Nick's family in Elko over Thanksgiving. Here is Grandma Welsch and Ella. I am really glad that we got to go spend a few days with them. Thanks for everything, Welsches! We enjoyed being there!

Response to accusations against the Mormon Church on prop 8 - click here for more protest photos

With the recent protests outside of the LDS Temple in Los Angeles and the attacks on the Mormon Church, I thought I would pass along a few stats regarding the LDS involvement with Prop 8 in California.

While some of our blog visitors outside of California may not be that interested, I think it is safe to say that this was one of the most important things that we have ever been involved in in our lifetimes. We aren't normally the writing type of bloggers, but we feel that this is really important. So sorry for all the text, as of late. Hopefully this all dies down and we can get back to blogging as usual.

These stats are from a source from Fox.

1. Mormons make up less than 2% of the population of California. There are approximately 800,000 LDS out of a total population of approximately 34 million.

2. Mormon voters were less than 5% of the yes vote. If one estimates that 250,000 LDS are registered voters (the rest being children), then LDS voters made up 4.6% of the Yes vote and 2.4% of the total Proposition 8 vote.

3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) donated no money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Individual members of the Church were encouraged to support the Yes on 8 efforts and, exercising their constitutional right to free speech, donated whatever they felt like donating.

4. The No on 8 campaign raised more money than the Yes on 8 campaign. Unofficial estimates put No on 8 at $38 million and Yes on 8 at $32 million, making it the most expensive non-presidential election in the country.

5. Advertising messages for the Yes on 8 campaign are based on case law and real-life situations. The No on 8 supporters have insisted that the Yes on 8 messaging is based on lies. Every Yes on 8 claim is supported.

6. The majority of our friends and neighbors voted Yes on 8. Los Angeles County voted in favor of Yes on 8. Ventura County voted in favor of Yes on 8.

7. African Americans overwhelmingly supported Yes on 8. Exit polls show that 70% of Black voters chose Yes on 8. This was interesting because the majority of these voters voted for President-elect Obama. No on 8 supporters had assumed that Obama voters would vote No on 8.

8. The majority of Latino voters voted Yes on 8. Exit polls show that the majority of Latinos supported Yes on 8 and cited religious beliefs (assumed to be primarily Catholic).

9. The Yes on 8 coalition was a broad spectrum of religious organizations. Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, Muslims – all supported Yes on 8. It is estimated that there are 10 million Catholics and 10 million Protestants in California. Mormons were a tiny fraction of the population represented by Yes on 8 coalition members.

10. Not all Mormons voted in favor of Proposition 8. Our faith accords that each person be allowed to choose for him or her self. Church leaders have asked members to treat other members with "civility, respect and love," despite their differing views.

Final Push on Proposition 8

We are asking you to join us in voting YES on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, November 4th. A Yes vote will restore traditional marriage.

Marriage is about much more than desires of two adults. It has profound implications for all of society -- especially our children. Voting yes on 8 protects our children from being taught in schools that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage, and Californians from facing mandatory compliance regardless of deeply held personal or religious beliefs.

Before you vote, learn more about Proposition 8:

http://www.protectmarriage.com

And watch the important video (link is above this post) telling the story of Proposition 8 -- including (ironically, given the opposition's claims) the intolerance and harrassment faced by our supporters:

Most importantly -- don't forget to vote YES on Proposition 8 on Tuesday. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Pumpkin Patch, Tigger our Jack-o-Lantern, and Cinder-ELLA!

Last week, Jace's preschool class went to a pumpkin patch. Ella and I also came, along with Jace's best friend Brody's family. There's quite a few pictures of him with his friend Brody as well as a few with Ella and his sister, Eliza. I especially like the first one of Ella staring at the llama.





















This was the night we carved Tigger, our jack-o-lantern, which Jace picked for us at the pumpking patch.













Batman and Cinder ELLA! granted their presence at the Halloween Ward Party. Jace's friend Brody was Spiderman, so they were two peas in a pod that evening.

Take Courage

Tagged

My sister-in-law tagged me. These are fun. Here goes my answers:

6 TV shows I like to watch:
*House
*Office
*American Idol
*Iron Chef
*BYU Football games
*Supernanny

6 Restaurants I enjoy:
*Outback
*Benni Hana (or anything similar)
*The Star (local, Nick's home town)
*Rattlers (local here)
*Olive Garden
*Costa Vida

6 Things that Happened Today:
*Helped at Jace's preschool
*Did my laundry
*Cleaned my house
*Messed up two batches of rice- I think I need a rice cooker!
*Passed up peanut butter cookies and a cupcake- a big bummer.
*Watched my kids enjoy playing football with Nick

6 Things I am looking forward to:
*Thanksgiving
*Christmas
*Being able to eat good food again!
*Colder weather
*Ella growing out of her terrible twos (it's not THAT bad, really.)
*Hanging out with my friends

6 Things on my Wish List:
*More festive decorations
*A new pair of jeans
*More time for blogging
*A gigantic ice cream cone- am I deprived, or what?
*My kids to do well and be happy
*To see my siblings more often

6 People to tag:
*Rachelle
*Jenesee
*Melissa
*Rachel A.
*Danielle H.
*April H.

Migraine Update

Thanks for the ideas on migraines! Preventing migraines can be a mysterious thing. There are so many different things to try. Finding the right one can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. So I really appreciated the new ideas! Michelle, I have known for some time that eating the "right" foods can help with migraines, but the lists I've seen with hundreds of migraine triggers, let alone the lists of foods with MSG- has made me feel like it would be way too impossible to figure out which foods if any, could be triggering my migraines. So I haven't found the motivation yet to go down "that" road. But when I read your comment about your Dad's MSG problem, plus the research I've done, I finally decided to try out a non-MSG, non-migraine trigger diet. I've done it perfectly for 6 days now, and I know that it's too early to make any conclusions, but so far I have definitely seen a big decrease in migraines. So it's hard to not be excited and hopeful that I might find some answers down this road. Right before I started the diet, I had had 4 days of migraines in a row. After I'd been on the diet for 24 hrs I stopped having migraines and have only had one in the past 6 days. So... here's the diet... and yes this diet seems weird, but I found this in a book about getting rid of migraines. So it's just a temporary thing...

For now, all I'm eating is
Chicken (cooked slowly so as to not create MSG by high cooking temeratures)
eggs, plain of course (no ketchup)
a few fruits including apples (if they are peeled) are okay
a few more vegetables to choose from
Brown rice, plain or plain old fashioned oats
only whole milk Mozzarella cheese
milk, if it's whole and organic.

While I enjoy fresh, healthy food, eating ONLY these things every day, over and over again has been the hardest diet I've ever done. I sooooooo want a sugar cookie or a bowl of cereal or a granola bar, for heaven's sake!

The good news is, after I do this for 1 to 2 weeks, I can slowly add back in one food at a time, until I hopefully figure out what food(s) if any are triggering some of these migraines.

So I know I've probably bored you, but I have been so excited about this project of mine, that I just had to write it all out in detail.

I'm hoping for the best. Thanks again!

Migraines

So... I get migraines. I have had them for years, but the last several years they've been worse than ever. I haven't had one week without at least one migraine since sometime before the month of May. Most weeks I get 2 or 3 migraines. If you're about to stop reading, let me say that I seek no pity. So why am I writing this? I've considered blogging about this for a while now. I finally decided to go ahead for a few reasons:

1. Does anyone know of anyone else who has found success in decreasing, or better yet, getting rid of migraines? I could seriously use some suggestions of new ideas! I have tried many, many things to prevent them. Some have helped, but I'm afraid nothing has discontinued them.

2. Also, I just want to point out that when faced with a migraine, I am very good at not showing the pain. Instead, I sometimes seem (at best) quiet, a little unsocial for the time, or maybe not quite as "with it" if you know what I mean. I do apologize if these behaviors come across as disinterested at times. For I am anything but that! Unfortunately, too many days, I'm simply fighting pain.

3. Last, they say that migraines are caused by a gene- a gene which I believe is hereditary. But I don't know of anyone else in my entire family who has migraines. So- a question for my family...is there anyone else who has them? Just curious.


Moving, on... here are some pictures that I've taken lately. We really enjoyed staying at my family's house on conference weekend!

Grandma's Potato Salad

So a while back, my Mom asked Grandma to write down her Potato Salad recipie. Apparently Grandma had said that she just puts a "little of this" and a "little more of that". You know how it goes, but my Mom pressed her to measure out what she actually puts in it. So... for all the Potato Salad fans (that includes me) here goes her famous recipie:


15 potatoes. Boil until well done. Cut up fine.
3/4 c. chopped green onions
2 c. chopped celery
15 tiny sweet pickles, chopped
6 hard boiled eggs, cut up

Mix together:
3 c. mayonnaise
3 1/2 t. salt
6 T. sugar
2 T. canned milk
3 T. sweet pickle juice

Add this to the potato mixture. Enjoy!

3 Guesses; the First 2 Don't Count

3 guesses as to how I style my bangs each morning... She is my shadow and copy-cat.Do your girls love to put your makeup on in the morning? She'll try anything to get me to let her use my brushes, or whatever...

We went to a small farm for a field trip with the Mom's Club out here in California. Who would have thought that there were bison living close by where we live? (in captivity)

Jace, realizing that he could spell his name with the blocks.

Friends

Continuing my pictures of Jace and his friends in the park...

This was so funny to me. I was trying to get things done around the house, when I noticed that Jace and Ella had, (on their own) created a "campfire." They used toys as sticks and managed to get the marshmallows out of the closet by themself. I love the moments when they find something fun to do on their own!