Andrea

Warning: this is not a happy post.

Life is so hard and for some of us it is too hard. We don't know why things happen the way they do. Only God knows that!

Andi and her son

 Within minutes of posting my post yesterday my sister called and gave me the horrible news that my dear, sweet cousin, Andrea, took her life. She is 28 years old, a mother of two (5 and 4), a wife of an amazing man, who just buried his father on Saturday. My heart goes out to them during this tragic time.

Andi and I

Andi and I

My earliest memory of Andi was on the front porch of our grandmother's house. I was trying to get in to use the bathroom, I think, and she was guarding the door, ready to bite me if I came any closer. Though most of my earliest memories were similar to that one, we apparently had fun together as well, sometimes getting into trouble.

In the photo we are jumping off the bed onto the mattress thing on the floor, doing it again and again, I think we were suppose to be sleeping. I've also been told of a time we were caught in my grandparents bathroom with the entire floor covered in toilet-paper.

Salt, Pepper, and Brown Sugar

My favorite memories were the Steiner reunions, when Salt (me), Pepper (Cherese) and Brown Sugar (Andi) would share a tent (later the younger girl cousin joined us) and stay up late talking about anything and everything. Of course this would normally lead to the subject of boys at some point. I remember how freaked out she was about the thought of sex. She thought it was gross. It was gross that her parents did that and she would say she was never going to do "that" with her husband.

Cherese, Bryan, Andi, and I

A few other random memories are that she didn't like mayo or mustard. Everyone who knows her knows she loved bears. They decorated her room growing up and her house when she was older.

She seemed to have it all put together, such an easy going person. So caring, She always wanted a job where she would be able to help people. I am sure there are many people who are better due to her help. I've always admired her drive and desire to do this.

I miss you and Love you Andi! This world is not as sweet as it use to be, without our Brown Sugar!

#31, #67, #87, and #94

I've got four more things past off my list. This is actually happening easier then I thought. I re-read through the list today and realized I was passing things off and didn't even realize it. 

#31 Organize Garage -(no picture for this) we did this a few weeks ago on Sept 3. we finished up building our shelves and got everything organized. The painting of the garage will have to come later. It is sort of towards the bottom of the priority list right now.

#67 and #94 are combined (do some vinyl crafts with my silhouette machine and have canisters for all the food in my pantry.) I know they are nothing fancy, but they will be behind closet doors in the Pantry. They make me happy and I love having my food out of bags and boxes. It was fun playing with vinyl for the first time. I don't think I will be doing this small of letters again it was pretty tricky. I am looking forward to more vinyl crafts in the near future.

# 87. buy canning equipment. I didn't actually buy, but I got it as a gift from my parents. Well, I have most of it, the steamer is still on it's way, I will have it by my birthday. I still want a pressure cooker, but do to price I will just be borrowing my moms for awhile. We put Peaches up the other day.

 

First Day of School

I know this is late, but I had to post about Dean's first day of pre-school. He started school on his birthday which was a very exciting for him.

He got to bring cookies to share with the class. He also got to pick out a book as a birthday gift. He chose The Old Woman Who Swallowed Some Leaves. It a great Fall book, you should check it out. He is going on his first field trip today. They are going to a dentist office.

Things I love about Fall

photo source

I was talking to my neighbor the other day and we got on the subject of football. I told her that we are not into football at our house (we are not anti-football). She seemed surprised and asked "if your not into football then what are you into?" later in the conversation the subject of the Fall season came up. I said something about it being my favorite time of year. she again was surprised and asked why I would like fall if I don't like football? I really didn't have much to say due to my surprise that someone's life could rotate so much around a sport that they could not see what other things there are to enjoy. Here are my reasons I love Autumn:

1. cooler days
2. leaves changing
3. gardens being harvested
4. my birthday
5. making costumes
6. dressing up for Halloween
7. apple cider
8. caramel popcorn
9. everything pumpkin
10. warm soup
11. decorating my house
12. family togetherness
13. The Thanksgiving turkey run (5K)
14. Thanksgiving dinner
15. wrapping up in warm blankets
16. getting ready for Christmas
17. The giving spirit in the air
18. making gifts for others
19. canning (even if I don't do it, yet. It still reminds me of Fall)
20. wearing big sweatshirts

What are some of the things you love about fall?

Happy Fall Equinox! started today at 5:05 EDT

Superhero Birthday party!

My two boys birthdays are 3 days a part. last year Brig turned one and we tried doing two parties. This year we got smart and threw one big party for the both of them. Super hero themed.

Invites: 

the letter states:We here at the CRIME FIGHTING SUPER HERO LEAGUE have noticed you and your special skills. Skills that are necessary and vital to crime fighters. Do you think you have what it takes to be a Super Hero? Super Dean and his side kick Super Brig seem to think so. They have invited you to our SUPER SECRET SUPER HERO TRAINING FACILITY at (address). Training begins at 17:30 hours (5:30) on the tenth day of September 2011. Please come in your Super Hero uniform (if you don't have one, one will be provided for you) and be prepared to work hard. Becoming a super hero is not for everyone, but it could be for you. We hope you decide to become a part of the CRIME FIGHTING SUPER HERO LEAGUE.

Regards, Justice Forall

As guest arrive we had felt masks and plastic table clothes (cape) available.

We had a jar of Peanut M&M's for everyone to guess how many where in there.

We also had a photo booth area. There were props; dumbbell, wham, pow, bam signs, and the backdrop had a speech bubble that said Happy Birthday Super Dean and Super Brig .

 

We then had dinner and served Superhero sandwiches, sidekick sides, Hulk juice (green kool-aid and lemon-lime soda), and iceman water.

After dinner we had a trivia sheet for the adults, to test their superhero knowledge. And the kids went out to train to be a superhero. 

 

First: they must cross a lava pit (water and red kool-aid in a pool)

second: they must find the kryptonite from the bat cave. ( blankets over chairs to make a dark cave. We then put glow-sticks in there.)

third: they had to learn how to dispose of hazardous material. (using tongs they moved green painted rocks (kryptonite) to a cooler labeled hazardous material.

Fourth: vaporize a villain (we put villain faces on Helium filled balloons and gave the kids cans of silly string (spiderman webbing) to take down the villains. You could also use a person dressed like a villain.)

some ideas I did not get around to doing were: jumping over buildings (made of boxes, blocks, or legos) learn to fly. (Jump off stool into pile of pillows), getting yourself out of a sticky/stringy situation. (have yarn strung into a web. Have each child take an end and follow it to the other side. We were going to have the silly string on the other side.)

After training we went inside for cake and Ice cream. Most years I've had my sister make the cakes, sense she is a pro, but she move across the country this past year so I took what I learned from her and went for it myself, this year. In case you cannot tell what it is we have a city scape on the bottom with the bat-symbol in the sky. Then the top is a web for spider-man with a superman cape draped off the side. The two figures on top are hulk and ironman.

While everyone ate cake and ice-cream we read off the winner of the candy jar and the answers to the trivia questions. We then opened presesnts.

Labor Day in Ogden

For Labor day we went to Ogden and had fun at three places.

First we stopped at The Air Force Museum:

Second we went to the Union Pacific Train Museum:

Third we went to the Dinosaur Park: