October 2013

On October 4th we had an early snowstorm. On my break from work I snapped this picture.

That evening we tried this toasted peeps marshmallow brownie recipe we saw on Pinterest. A bit of a fail because the faces melted off and we had to add mini chocolate chips, and also because the kids didn't like the taste of sugared marshmallow on top of the brownie. Oh well, it was a fun activity!

On the 5th I made a special waffle breakfast. Another day I made up my own recipe for "pumpkin spice taste treat delight" (Cream of wheat with butter eggs sugar,pumpkin pie spices and orange food coloring).

We met up with Tammy and Lana at Gardners Village where we shopped, ate lunch, and the kids got their faces painted.

  The 6th was conference, and the kids colored packets I printed from the computer.

Joy invited us to go with them to Black Island Farms on the 7th.

As usual, it was a lot of fun! We were a bit chilled by the end and the magic show got a little bit long, but it was a great night. Brandt especially loved hanging out with his buddy, Faith.

The 8th was crazy hair day, and Faith's creation didn't disappoint.

On October 9th, I was working and looked down to see this lazy cat snoozing by my desk.

The 10th was mustache day. Crazy kids!

Christian brought home this picture where he'd written that being a kid means to trick-or-treat.

Obviously he plans on getting a lot more Halloween candy than anyone else!

Christian was extra lucky at Golden Corral on the 12th, when he won this stuffed animal in the crane game. I'm so mad! Now he'll want to waste his money in those types of games again and again.

That night the kids slept over with Tammy and Grandma Braegger and made these cute our pumpkins.

I had to take a picture of Christians funny countdown for our Chinese guest teacher to arrive. He drew the numbers on the paper and then put chocolate chips (with melted chocolate that didn't end up holding, so then reinforced with masking tape) one to eat for each day until she got here.

I have been volunteering in Christian's class every week and here I am on the 14th helping the kids with a game during centers.

 

On October 15th, our Chinese guest finally arrived! We had been told her English name was Candace, but we learned that her (real) Chinese name is Sirui (pronounced su-RAY) and so that is what we call her now.

We took her to zuppa's for some soup and spent the night chatting and getting to know her. We were excited to learn that she is 26 years old and graduated with a Masters degree in teaching Mandarin Chinese to foreigners. She doesn't have any brothers or sisters and her parents are divorced so it's just her and her mom back home. Her hometown is Changchun, Jilin province in North East China.

 

On the 17th, we met up with Joy and her kids and tried to visit the hill aerospace museum, but it was closed due to the government shutdown. We ended up going to the Layton historical Museum and we thought it was funny that Sirui was excited to see an American government building and took pictures of the Layton city offices.

Afterward, we fed the ducks and played at the nearby park.

We concluded our excursion with a visit to Crown Burger where Sirui had her first taste of a Greek gyro sandwich, french fries and fry sauce.

That night the kids showed her how to carve a jack-o'-lantern,

And we went to YogoTogo with Tony after he got from work.

The kids were still out of school for fall break on the 18th, so we went to J & J nursery's hay ride to the pumpkin patch. We were a bit daunted by the long line, but Sirui said that there are so many people in China that they think nothing of waiting for anything an hour or longer.

On October 19th we took her to Frightmares at Lagoon.

she loved the rides, but was a bit freaked out by the scary decorations and people who were dressed up. We took her to the least scary haunted house at Lagoon, but it scared her to tears and I thought she was going to have a heart attack! Still, she said she loved the themepark and it was the favorite thing she did in October.

That night, we went to Farmington station park for frozen yogurt at Orangeleaf and ate it outside by the fireplace while watching the lighted fountain.

  

Here is some Halloween artwork that Christian made at school using his fingerprints.

On the 22nd, Sirui cooked a Chinese dinner for us again. The first one she made was called hot pot but ended up being very spicy.  This was also hot pot but was in broth and was very delicious!

My snuggle bunny trying to disrupt my work on the 24th.

 

October 25th was the 6th grade Egyptian wax museum activity at school. Faith was Neith and did a great job. We borrowed the address from a neighbor, but it only came with one arm band. Faith had the idea to make four copies on our printer so she would have one for each arm and wrist, like the drawing. You could press the "button" in front of her and Faith would give a full two minute presentation which she wrote about this Egyptian goddess.

Her friends all looked amazing, too!

The 25th was Joy's Halloween party, so we got busy with our favorite part – the food. Saray had never baked because in China people live in small apartments and usually don't have ovens, so we got her right to work! I had her on frosting duty and she did a great job. We made boo-nana muffins with scream cheese frosting (shaped like ghosts with chocolate chip eyes and mouths),

rice crispy treat candy corn, Nilla wafer eyeballs, and string cheese/pretzel whiches' brooms.

Faith came as a bag of skittles, Skittles was a skittles candy, Christian was Ironman,

Sirui wore my cop outfit from last year, and I was a cowgirl. Looking at this picture, I can see that it was totally unflattering and looks like I also went as a 300 pound person! Don't worry, although I have gained a few pounds since my lowest weight, I am much thinner than I look in this pic!!!

Joy and her three girls were adorable witches.

They were fun games for the kids including a beanbag toss and the piñata.

Saray didn't feel very well, so we just played one game of mafia at the end and headed home, but it was still a fun night.

On October 29th, one of our tadpoles finally became a frog! He only lived about a day after that and The next little guy who grew legs did the same, so I am apparently terrible at caring for adult frogs :( Still they were fun to watch during their metamorphosis.

That night was our ward trunk or treat. 

The kids got way too much candy and Sirui liked passing out our treats from our bowl with the skeleton hand that comes out of the top. It was also fun to watch the kids try to eat donuts hanging from strings and have hot chocolate at the end.

On the 30th Surui made this delicious dish out of the ground pork, eggplant, and a packet of sauce she's gotten at the Chinese market.

On Halloween day I volunteered in Christian's class making pom-pom & pipe cleaner pencil toppers. I had 29 six and seven-year-olds using glue guns, and by the end of the day only two kids had touched hot glue and cried a little! Even then, I think it was more at the surprise and not so much the injury. I thought this was pretty good odds since every time I use hot glue I burn myself 30 times!!

Sirui wanted to give us some gifts and thought Halloween was a good day for that. Faith got this beautiful inlaid comb and mirror set, Christian got a Chinese opera man pen, I got a bracelet, and Tony got a special charm that is to keep one safe while driving. It was so sweet of her!

The kids got ready and Tony took them out trick-or-treating while Sirui and I handed out candy at home.

After getting their fill of candy and being chilled to the bone, we stoped by my mom and dads,

and took a closer look at their neighbor's spooky display of life-sized creatures.

We then went on to Braegger's for some homemade chili and Tammy's fabulous gift boxes.