It's Coco-Motion Time!

The temperatures dipped today so it finally feels like fall in Washington. That can only mean one thing: Cocomotion! My recipe for fall happiness? The Restoration Hardware furry blanket, Williams-Sonoma peppermint hot chocolate and the CocoMotion machine. Heat, pour, cuddle. Repeat all winter!

Colorado Weekend with Friends

What’s better than the mountains in the Fall? Not much! This past weekend, Susan, Amber and I flew to Colorado for a long-awaited girls’ weekend in Vail with Tiffany Weaver. Amber’s participation in the weekend was a surprise for Tiff, which was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

We did a whole lot of nothing – we just wandered through Vail Village, ate breakfast burritos, did a little shopping…basically, we were lazy! A little cowboy / Vail humor...

On Sunday, we drove down to Denver and had dinner with Tiff’s husband, Dan, and their kids, Bentley and Brady; plus Tiff’s mom, Linda, and my mom. We were quite the crowd at Hacienda, but we had a nice time catching up.

After dinner, Susan went home with Mom and Amber and I headed south, where we had a fabulous two days with our beloved friends, April and Christian Smith, who were just stationed in Colorado Springs with their adorable children, Sydney, Jackson and Soren! I love this family so much! I’ve always said that, within my ranks of married friends, April and Christian are one of my top three couples. Love them!

We didn’t do a whole lot while we were in Colorado Springs, but that was perfect! We enjoyed April’s delicious cooking – she’s a master in the kitchen! - while spying deer wandering through her new neighborhood! They're huge!

We took a morning trip to Garden of the Gods, which I hadn’t visited in at least 30 years.

 

 

We did a quick lunch with Tiffany, Bentley and Brady…

We enjoyed Jackson's drawings and awesome (and hilarous!) stories...

 

 

And, after school, we helped the kids with some pre-Halloween pumpkin carving.

How hilarious is this? Sydney’s first feel of the inside of a pumpkin. Just a wee bit slimy!

 

 

It was a fantastic long weekend with some of my very favorite people, and at the end of it, I felt a little bit like sweet Soren:

All tuckered out!

Sawyer is a Republican!

Susan spoke to Sawyer last night and was informed that next year for Halloween he plans to be the president of the United States. Susan pressed  little more on what that meant, and yes...he will be Mitt Romney! No need to study the polls any further!

Cinnamon Roll Pull-Aparts? Yes, Please!

For Stake Leadership training last night, I was asked to bring two loaves of bread. I could have brought a boring pumpkin or banana bread, but why when I could do pumpkin sugar cinnamon pull-apart bread??

 

Wowsers! Check this out:

 

I basically made dough for cinnamon rolls, but added some canned pumpkin. After letting it rise, I rolled it into a rectangle...



 Brushed on melted butter and sprinkled on cinnamon sugar...

Then I cut six strips and layered them on top of each other before cutting the strips into smaller 2-inch squares.

Then I layered the stacks into a loaf pan, alternating stacks left to right.

 Thirty minutes later, pumpkin pull-apart bread that I drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. Holy Moses was it good! I took both loaves and returned home with one empty platter. These will have to make a return appearance at something this holiday season!

Voting for President

This morning, I mailed in my ballot for president. Here's hoping  Mitt Romney pulls it out!

Someone's Learning to Write!

Now, if only he'd find a piece of paper!

Look at Me When I'm Talking to You!

What's more disconcerting: the fact that a single giant eyeball washed up on the shores of Florida this morning or the fact that marine biologists don't have a clue what species it's from? Here's the moment when I'm glad I'm not a deep-sea diver in the Atlantic Ocean! Talk about making your wet suit wet!

Someone's Asleep at the Wheel

It's election season and the knives are out. I'm one of these people who loves the politics of politics (much more than the policies of politics), but I rarely put skin in the game. I don't stand on street corners waving signs, or put bumper stickers on my car, or leaflet my neighbors. I rarely even write a check. But this campaign season has me suddenly excited and nervous. 

Last night was the first debate between Romney and Obama, and....there's no polite way to say this....Romney kicked Obama's ass to Chicago and back again. Romney had a total command of the stage and his messages, while Obama spent 90 minutes focusing on the grain of his podium.

The result: Democrats are apoplectic; cable pundits are dismayed; Republicans are ENERGIZED!! In a CNN post-debate poll, Romney was deemed the winner by 78%! When was the last time that happened?

There's still 30-plus days to go, plus two more debates, but for right now, it's flat out delicious watching Democrats fall over themselves in stunned shock.

Attending a Nats Game

Tonight I finally went to my first baseball game at Nationals Park. I loved it! Earlier this summer, I told Sue Stahle – a huge baseball fan if ever there was one! – that I wanted to go to a Nationals game and we were finally able to make it happen. The Nats played the Phillies and won 4-2. The weather was cool, the food was yummy and the crowd was enthusiastic. It was a great end-of-summer evening!

Weekend in Las Vegas

I went to Vegas this past weekend to visit the little monkeys, and I had a great time! I arrived on Friday night after Walker had gone to bed, but I was able to spend 30 minutes with Sawyer before his bedtime. The highlight of the evening was this exchange between Sawyer and his mom:

Scene: Sawyer walking around the family room scratching his butt for 10 minutes.

Jocelyn: “Sawyer, stop!”

Sawyer: “Mom, I’m not scratching in it – I’m scratching on top of it!”

So there.

On Saturday morning – after a 6am wakeup by a 5-year old wearing nothing but BVD underoos and a Spiderman t-shirt – we went to Sawyer’s baseball game. As we took our seats on the bleachers, Allen said to me, “Sawyer really enjoys playing baseball – he’s just having trouble with hitting, throwing and catching. Otherwise, he’s really good at it!”Hahaha…spoken like a true Shelden.

 Sawyer at bat...

 ...and sliding into home! Waahoo!

 

Not only did the little guy did manage to get on base twice, he scored two runs. Allen and I were laughing at his approach to home plate. He runs like the wind, stops short of home plate and then falls to knees.Who cares…it still counts as a run!

  

 

 The “good game” parade

 

 In the car, on the ride home, Allen had the radio station tuned to classic rock, so I took the opportunity to teach my 5-year old nephew a little bit about classic rock moves.

I’m sure his grandmothers would be really impressed!

 

A surprise treat this weekend was that our cousin, Ryan Brown, Jane and Doug’s son, was in Vegas for work, so Allen and I drove down to the strip to meet Ryan and his girlfriend, Angela, for lunch. It was a quick lunch, but I hadn’t seen Ryan in three years, so it was good to catch up and hear the latest from him. He’s a mining engineer so he works for a mining company and lives six hours north of Vancouver. To be honest, it sounds a little dreary to me, but he seems to enjoy it. Plus, he’s a small-town guy so I’m sure it’s perfect for him.

 

Back at the house, Sawyer and I played a series of exhausting games, the most interesting of which was “civil war and ‘revolution-ree’ war”. When asked what this game was about, I got a mini U.S. history lesson about the “revolution-ree war” in which I was told America fought “London soldiers” and won, as well as the Civil War, which was about “no slaves”.

The game entailed me – in my role as a “London soldier” or a “South solider” - sitting in the corner of their sectional couch and lobbing couch pillows – otherwise known as cannons and bombs – at Sawyer, who was standing 10 feet away. I’m positive that Allen and Jocelyn weren’t thrilled that we used 8 couch pillows as cannons, but it kept Sawyer occupied for 30 minutes.

At one point, I had all of the pillows / cannons on my lap and told them that I was going to win and he replied with total indignation, “No you aren’t! America always wins!”

On Saturday night, I took Sawyer out for frozen yogurt. As we were sitting at the table, he looked up at me and said, “Hey, we’re on a date!” It was SO CUTE! I told him that I agreed with him, so he put his spoon in his yogurt, looked at me with sincere eyes and said, “So, what should we talk about?”

I nearly died of laughter and love! This kid is so cute!

After a few minutes, he says to me, “I have an idea. Every time you come to Las Vegas to see me, we should go on a date. And this is where we should come. This will be our date place and we’ll always come get frozen yogurt.”

Again…heart melting! Love him!!

Then, we get in the car to go home and he says, “Did you know you are my first date? I’m really glad you were my first date. And even when we get home, we’ll still be on our date because you can be on a date in your home.”

Heart melting…

 

Sunday was a quiet day at home – more Civil War, Revolutionary War, ball throws and motorized cars. Nothing too exciting but it was fun to spend the day with the boys. On Sunday morning, Walker and I had some quality time that included a little Sesame Street and a tickle fight.

Unlike his big brother, Walker loves a good tickle and zerberts! He has the best belly laugh!

In the afternoon, Allen and Sawyer pulled out Sawyer's electic cars and ran them through the back patio rock garden and grass. While Sawyer (and especially Allen!) loved it, Walker wasn't so sure. Anytime the cars came near him, it was freak out time! Here he is with a very safe distance between him and the car in the middle of the yard. 

 

Here's Sawyer on his way to Hawaii, with his kick board, life preserver, and gun (aka lacrosse stick), which will allow him to kill sharks, whales and salmon. I asked how long it would take him to get to Hawaii and he told me nine hours between swimming and his tractor behind him!

 The day ended with this visual:

 

Apparently, my mom bought face crayons and he wasted no time finding plenty of skin to draw on. Thanks to the TV being tuned to the Packers game, he turned himself and his Grammy (Joc's mom, who flew in on Sunday morning) into full-blown Packers fans. Hilarious!