Best Disney’ish dinner

I listened to the Grounded podcast with my girl Barbara Morgan Gardner today and was SO surprised to hear my other girl Cakes by Courtney! I *love* her cakes, she’s always my go-to and I had no idea she was a member. So cool!

Since we didn’t have a football game tonight we had Disney dinner, which for the month of October is Halloween dinner. We watched Beetle Juice and I think this might be my favorite dinner so far. 

First of all - my drinks layered! Finally!

Sandworm bread sticks - another reason for this to be a fav is that it was fairly simple to make. 

Shrimp cocktail (from Aldi - shhhh!) that everyone liked. 

Here lies Betelguise Brownies. 

Ok, cigarettes are really gross, but look at this! Juno’s Demise White Chocolate Pretzels. So realistic!

So funny!

After our movie we went on a Halloween lights walk. I’ve been looking to see the hand of the Lord in my life each day and it was this evening, this walk. I am so blessed. And D found the most chill toad in the world. She picked him up and the only thing that moved was his big fat head. 

Telling exciting stories!

And one gross thing. I’ve been laundry stripping rugs this week. First our kitchen mats and then the wool rug from our entryway. Because it’s wool it doesn’t get washed very often and the water was sooo.gross. Never in my life seen it so dirty. 🤢  Clean now, so onward and upward i guess. 

Best game ever

Thursday was an early morning! We had an America 250 Food Truck coming to Gaithersburg that morning and I felt like I should be there. The Church is collaborating with America 250 to send 250 food trucks to all 50 states this year in celebration of our 250th birthday. I love it and love being part of a church that gives so much back. ❤️

The truck was delivered to Manna Food and I had contacted their media people and I’m really trying to make media contacts. Anyways, the truck was scheduled to arrive at 9, but then moved it up to 8:30 and traffic was 😫

I left at 5:30 and arrived at 8:15. We were all so excited when the beautiful truck showed up and they got to unloading. 

We met their ceo, president, vice president and volunteers and started our food bank tour. 

We had to take a quick photo break before the truck headed up to Pennsylvania. I volunteered to be the photographer.  

Look at that orderly and beautiful volunteer assembly line! 👆🏼 I was seriously impressed with their whole operation. 

Teresa is their stake communications director and she would have been flying solo as our only church representative if I hadn’t gone, so I know I was prompted to be there. She did a great job organizing everything!

Kentucky got a 250 food truck a few days before ours and they had a whole big thing with their governor, so that made me feel like we could/should have done more. But Heavenly Father has been teaching me so much and also talking to Ginny about why it feels like other coordinating councils are always doing more than us (covering DC and the DC temple are two huge reasons) had been so helpful as I strive to understand my role and plans for moving forward.  

On my way home i enjoyed some Trader Joe’s love and grabbed some apple cider donuts. I put them on the counter and took a little nappy and when Matt got home he found they had been infested by ants. 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 For the past month’ish we’ve had an ant or 2 on the counter by our sink, but they’d never gotten into any food and we’d never seen more than like 5 at a time. Matt was able to brush them off and our girls are none the wiser. 😆 I’d never give them to anyone else without telling them, but what the girls don’t know can’t hurt them. 😭

We had a football game at Patuxent high school where our mighty raiders were down the whole game. At halftime the score was 7-21 and I told Matt “ok, let’s finish watching our boys lose.”

And then! Things got so exciting! In the fourth quarter they scored a touchdown, then intercepted the panthers ball and got another touchdown! And then another!!!

With just 2 minutes left the score was 28-27! We were ALL fired up!

And then Patuxent started working their way down the field. They got a couple first downs and I really, really thought they were gonna get a touchdown and win. It literally came down to the last 5 seconds and then at 2 seconds they were gonna go for the kick, but the Raiders held them at the 5 yard line! It was incredible! So much fun! I’ve seen a lot of Raider football over the years and this was the best game I’ve ever seen! And then we found out that Pax are  2 time stage champs! Who are these mighty raiders even?!

The boys had a loud and exciting after game huddle and the cheerleaders waited excitedly to run out and congratulate them. 

It was really cute! Carter got a touchdown and his parents weren’t there, so we made sure to go give him some love - all the parents were. 

RAIDERS WIN!!!

92°

Why did it get up to 92° in the middle of October? It’s not right. 

Adi’s roommate complications continue. It’s not that they don’t get along, it’s just tricky.

Our high school girlies have kept their grades high 80’s and 90’s, which is amazing.

I did all my errands during the dance drop off and we had loaded baked potato soup for dinner and Frankie drove Delaney to youth activities all by herself. 

And we’ll call that a Wednesday. 

Inklings

For inklings this semester we’ll be reading the Book of Mormon along with studying the conference talks. I love a focused book of Mormon challenge and i love a pretty Book of Mormon. I actually bought a pretty Book of Mormon with journal while I was in Utah because I kind of forgot about this challenge. Good thing I’ll read it again and can use it next time.

So EBF showed us the coolest Book of Mormon and of course we all want it.

Sarah had acrylic markers for us to decorate our BoM’s and I looked for ideas beforehand. I learned about this beautiful Australian Aboriginal art last year in the Liahona when they showcased the Salt Lake temple art competition, probs because one of my friends entered it and had some pieces accepted. 

Anyway, I looked up ideas and I love this tree of life so I attempted it and mine is v v v amateur hour, but ok. I guess I should have grabbed a picture of it. Imma make Frankie do the front because I want it pretty. 

Yesterday morning Matt was like “come outside right now, don’t get your shoes on!” Which is a big deal because Matt can be weird about socks outside. But anyway, for the first time in our 17+ years here, we got to see a rocket launch! That thing was trucking across the sky and very cool. 

I went to inklings and then after we’ve been chatting for another hour or two and it’s nice to visit and also nice not to be home completing tasks. 🤣

I made a yummy pasta with fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomato for dinner and then Sarah and I went to RS for Alecia’s fun general conference game. I think my bad sportsmanship is all in fun, but in my older lady era I’m trying not to be too much so i always pep talk myself and I think I did a good job letting other people talk and just giving some light trash talk. It’s just hard when things pops in my head not to say them. 🤷‍♀️ I know I am an acquired taste for some, and I’m trying to be more mild. 🙃

I finally put away our summer bucket list. We are an optimistically hopeful crew with lofty goals and we completed half of them, but managed not a single bingo. Whomp whomp. There’s always next year. Or fall, winter, or spring. 

10/12

The one where I finally caught up. 

Some four way good morning convo’s. They are always wild and loud but oh how I love them!

We braved the mud and went to the pumpkin patch today. 

These two girls couldn’t be more opposite in a lot of ways, but in the most important ways they are the same. They love each other and try to do what is right. ❤️

I still can’t believe we are in this waning period of life. It’s wild. 

Frankie and I hung out on the swing while we waited for friends. Matt picked up Danny and they were chatting and this goth kid on vacation enjoyed the hay bales. 

Despite my repeated warnings, Frankie wore sandals and regretted her decision. Delaney piggy backed her but that lasted about 10 hilarious steps. 

Alecia is a more fun mom than me and played tag with her kiddos. 

Alecia and I have ridden this hayride of life for a lot of years together. Love this family!

 👯‍♀️ And yes, this is the same Jack-o-lantern sweater I always wear. It’s old and soft and comfy. 

We picked our perfect pumpkins and apples and mums and then for a little bit more adventure stopped at Zimmerman for treats. But not donuts because they don’t sell donuts. 🙃 

Turned out to be a beautiful muddy day. 

I made more vanilla when we came home but I think I put too many vanilla beans in each jar. 🤷‍♀️

Frankie took her first solo drive and drove herself to Carter's house while Delaney was at ballet. 

Cute autumn porch!

Adi’s family home evening is sledding at the dunes tonight and these girls have got their bags packed for school tomorrow and I’ve got my to-do list written *and* I’m caught up on blogging. 

🎉🎉🎉

10/10 & 10/11

 Homecoming day was a busy one! I took D to dance and picked up Kendra from Valley Lee, picked up Frankie from home and dropped them off for pedi’s, picked them back up, and then picked them back up and made appetizers for getting ready lunch.

Frankie wanted a cute banner for flower bouquet making, and she did most of it last Sunday but then never came back to it. And then since our craft tablecloth was already out and they were finishing the banner, they went ahead and painted their fake flower bouquets there too. The problem is, the dining room is a catchall room so our Halloween costumes (pictured) plus every other random thing I’m getting rid of, needs a home, needs fixed, and whatever other clutter’ish item was in there with our guests. 🙄 

Literally the one place I wouldn’t want people to be. 🤷‍♀️

The girls got ready and then instead of going out to eat we ordered pizza and Carter came over. Then Matt and I took them to take pictures. A few of the other girls couldn’t make it, so it was just the three of them. 

This was my suggestion and we had to teach them a fireman carry. 🤣

We went from the beach to downtown Leonardtown but it was getting dark so it was a little tricky. We used our flashlights though and made it work. 💪🏻 

We watched a movie with D and for another taste of how life will be in two years. It’s going fast. 

I picked the dancers up from at 10 and everyone reported having fun. One funny thing - while we were eating I playing a cheesy homecoming mix from YouTube and we joked about one song in particular “Boots on the ground,” being played at the dance and when I picked them up they let me know it was. So random. 🤣

On Sunday bubba sent me a picture from Amy and Sandy’s house. The first time our 2 New York families got together and Lu and I were so jealous! I requested a shot of:

Sandra hooked me up! And max made the little cowls they’re both wearing. Ruby even got to take that little dirty home. 🤣

Matt helped me with an easy Halloween Disney dinner. They’re a little less involved than the regular dinners, so that’s nice. I really love homemade, so Matt first made the enchilada sauce for these Happy Haunts Mexican pizzas and it turned out so good! I’m sold!

Gracey’s Graveyard Layered Dip. 

Bloody Wedding Cupcakes. Last Disney dinner I froze the extra cupcakes because we did not need 24, and so I had them ready to frost and it was super great. 

And some Grim Grinning Brides to drink. These were tasty pomegranate based drinks. 

We watched Haunted Mansion and had a lovely evening. 

Later we FaceTimed Adi for 2 hours and caught up on all the things. She’s got all A’s and is rocking this college thang, even though her rating went from 7/10 to 6/10 last week. Praying for a better week!

And finally, a throwback to long and late nights/early morning sickies.