Right Hand on Yellow, Left Foot on Blue

At the girls' school, they have a behavior rewards program called the Principal's 200 Club. The students are awarded "Paw Prints" (their mascot is a Husky) from their teachers for good behavior. They put their paw prints in a container in the office (there is one for each grade). At the end of each day, the Principal draws 2 winners from each grade. The winners go down to the office, draw a number out of a hat, and put their paw print on a board according to the number they drew. When there are 10 in a row, the kids whose paw prints are in that row get to do something special with the Principal.

Last week Brynlee was part of the 10 in a row so yesterday she got to play Twister with the Principal and other winners (and a few teachers) in front of the whole school. Since she didn't have a clue what Twister was, I explained it to her a little bit. Right before it started, I thought I hope she knows her left and right really well. So I asked her, "Brynlee, which hand is your right hand?" and she holds up her left hand....oh great! Luckily a teacher on her Twister board helped her out a bit.

Mr. Markworth dividing the kids up in the four Twister areas...

Some of Brynlee's nice moves...

Pumpkin Walk

On Saturday, we went to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk. Cheryl and her kids and Christie and her boys came up and Grandma Barton also joined us. The theme this year was "Calling All Heroes." Here are a few of the scenes...

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...
Landon and Neil in front of Kung Fu Panda...

Landon trying to imitate the Joker...

Here's two thumbs up for Uncle Jake who is deployed to Iraq...I got a little choked up at this scene. There was a CD player playing "Proud to Be An American", which is a song I love! I couldn't help but sing along! I guess the war never really hits home until you have a family member in harms way. We pray every day for Jake to be protected!

After we went through the scenes, the kids got their pictures in the cutouts...

Trevor as Yoda (which is who he'll really be for Halloween)

Brynlee as Ariel...

Ashlee as Sleeping Beauty and Landon as the Prince...

All the Barton cousins (minus Eddie...he was visiting his cousins on the other side of his family)...

The Barton girl cousins (finally my girls aren't the only ones!)...

After the Pumpkin Walk, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Barton's house for dinner and for the cousins to play. They all put on their Halloween costumes and did a little parade...

What Could Be Better Than Bunco AND Costumes

Every month I get together with a crazy bunch of ladies for BUNCO night! Last night Marcy hosted and she had everyone wear their costumes. As always we had lots of fun! Here's a recap of the evening...

Here's Marcy the Host...not quite sure what to call her costume but she was definitely scary! She won Most Buncos....AGAIN! Somehow she's been on this winning streak the last few months...

Yours truly as Cruella DeVil. I got the prize for Most Wins...
Jane was so focused on remembering to bring the tables and chairs to Marcy's house that she left her costume at home. She ended up with the traveller prize...
Cindy and Hydi were Ghostbusters and Angie aka Petey was a fugitive...
Kristy was Wonder Woman...Wow, check out those boots...seriously, the picture doesn't even do them justice... Angie aka Fonz was a deviled egg...love the creativity on this one...she got my vote for best costume!

Ang was GI Jane...she totally could have pulled off the shaved head look but didn't :)

Mandi, the black kitty...I wish the picture showed her long pink eyelashes. They were the coolest...

Tonya came as a doctor. Here she is giving Wonder Woman a check up...

Denise somehow missed out on the pictures. She had a creative costume as well...she taped small cereal boxes all over her with plastic knives in them... she was a "Cereal" Killer...hahaha!

Marcy was creative (okay so it was Mandi's idea) with dinner. Warning: This is not for the weak stomach! We had:

Bloody Maget stew (Taco Soup) in skulls (Bread Bowls) topped with Dried Skin Chunks (Fritos), Shredded Brain Matter (Cheese), and Whipped Eyeball Whites (Sour cream); Jolly Green Giant Boogers (Spinach Salad); for drinks it was Ghost Urine (bottled water) or Thinned Blood (pink Crystal Light); and the dessert was Bile Cake (a layered dessert made with Pistachio Pudding). Thanks, Marc, for the great party!

In A Dinner Rut...Recipe Tag

Lately I haven't been much in the mood to make dinner. I think I need some new ideas so I'm making up a little "Recipe Tag". I'm going to post an easy dinner recipe and then you post one on your blog and tell people to do the same. Then leave me a comment telling me so I can have a new recipe! Easy recipes that have common or few ingredients are best!

Chicken Casserole

2 C. cubed, cooked chicken
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 C. milk
1 C. coarsely crushed saltine crackers
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Mix crackers and butter. Put half in a casserole/baking dish. Layer chicken on top of crackers. Mix sour cream, cream of chicken soup and milk until creamy. Pour over chicken. Top with rest of crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over rice. Complete the meal with a vegetable like steamed broccoli.

You can make this a little healthier by using fat free/reduced fat sour cream or plain yogurt, Campbell's Healthy Choice Cream of Chicken soup and leaving out the butter.

Gettin' a little R & R

Last week the girls had Fall Break so we headed to the cabin for a change from everyday life and activities! We went up Thursday after lunch and arrived at a very chilly cabin. After warming up and hanging out until dinner time, we headed to the Road Island Diner. It's a new attraction in Oakley complete with a server named Elmer! We met Cheryl and her family there as they were coming up to the cabin as well.

The rest of the time was spent on the ATV, making Halloween arts and crafts, playing with cousins, watching "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" on the projector, reading, a visit to Smith & Morehouse Reservoir for throwing rocks (and falling in), and overall having a nice, relaxing, fun time! Here's a sampling of the fun (we took over 100 pictures!)...Chris the Chauffeur waiting for the next rider... Landon, as happy as can be, waving goodbye. He spent most of his time on the ATV!

The couches transformed into the movie theater...

Book worm cousins, Ashlee and Jacob...

At the river on the south end of the reservoir...
Trevor getting up close and personal with nature...

Ashlee, making a big splash...

Forest friends...

Some Pig

Since Kirsten works for my parents, we got to attend the 2nd annual Glacier Food Service family picnic a few weeks ago. My parents brought in a whole pig as the main course. It was a small one, only about 75 pounds.

Grandpa getting ready to carve the pig:



Now that's a drumstick:



Ashlee & Brynlee posing:



Lando standing far away, not sure what to think:



There are a few more pictures posted on my Flickr account if you want more.

Don't forget to vote

I posted what I thought was a great message about voting from Craig Ferguson on my other blog last week. Since Kirsten lets me moonlight on "her blog" I will take just a second to refer you there for this reminder. Craig, who is from Scotland, just became a U.S. citizen earlier this year, so this will be his first time voting here.

Snow, Snow...Bye, Bye Fall

This weekend, Jack Frost decided to visit Utah. We didn't get as much snow as some parts of the state (some places got a foot by Sunday...in the valleys not mountains). Not much had stuck around here but then last night we got a little bit more (maybe an inch if that) and this morning the kids decided there was enough to play in. I'm sure it will be gone by the afternoon. It's supposed to warm up again this week so hopefully we'll be able to enjoy some more Fall weather before winter really hits!

View from the back porch
Brynlee all bundled up to keep warm...I'm sure in 5 minutes they'll be begging for hot chocolate, of which I have none :)
Brynlee and her "snow" angel
Landon and Brynlee attempt to go sledding. The funny thing is that they've been doing this on our front porch steps for the last couple weeks.
Cheesy Landon...I can't get him to smile normally when posed!

The kids begged me to take a video so here you go...

I love Landon at the end..."Mommy?" "What." "Take a video"