It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Confession: I put up my autumn decorations before Labor Day.

Confession: I get really excited about canning food, and I think stacks of canned fruit or jam is about the prettiest thing in the world.

Confession: I think Halloween (while a weird day) is one of the best holidays of the whole year!

(Katelee painting a Halloween craft.)

Confession: Back-to-school time is almost as exciting to me as Christmastime.

Hooray for Autumn!

Wordless Wednesday - More Images from the Recital

Musical Moments

Our home is usually filled with music, but the past few weeks our home has been overflowing with music. A few weeks ago Gerald was asked to sing a solo in church. He sang "Where Can I Turn For Peace," and I accompanied him. It was a beautiful arrangement, and Gerald sounded great. Then, I played a piano solo today in church: "We Thank Thee, Oh God, For a Prophet.

In addition, my many piano students have been preparing for our fall piano recital, and Katelee and I have been preparing our songs, too. We had our recital this past Friday night. It turned out really well! The theme was "Music from the Movies" and the students played songs from movies that ranged from Star Wars to The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins to Disney cartoons, SpongeBob to The Phantom of the Opera. It was a great night of music. Katelee played "Winnie the Pooh" and I played one of my favorites: "The Theme from Schindler's List."

Katelee truly cracks us up with how much she LOVES the spotlight. Lately she has been telling us that when she grows up "she wants to be in shows on the stage." She would be great at it! She loves being on stage and basks in all the attention. She was so busy watching the audience while she was performing at the recital - it was hilarious! Here is the video clip of her recital song:

One of my piano student moms took this picture and sent it to me. She is so talented! I love how artistic this picture is.

And here is my song from the piano recital, if you're interested. Mostly, this is for you, mom and dad. ;)

Oh, and one more musical moment that just has to be shared. When Katelee takes her nightly shower, she loves to sing at the top of her lungs. She makes up her own songs, and they are usually hysterically funny! One night I couldn't resist getting a bit of it on tape, unbeknown to Katelee. The last little bit is my favorite part. ;) (And please, don't judge me for my messy counters: I took this video when we were still unpacking and moving in.)

Sharing with Friends

Katelee is getting really good lately at sharing. At stake conference she shared all her toys with the little girl sitting next to us. At play dates (at least the ones I observe) she has been so good lately at sharing her toys. One example of this is when her best little friend, Gracie, recently came to play. Without my knowledge, Katelee gave Gracie her 'Jelly Bean Bug Dance' painting that she recently made. Gracie seemed really excited about it, and Gracie's mom told me that Gracie had loved that painting. :) Gracie also made this adorable headband to give to Katelee. Katelee was so tickled that Gracie made this headband for her and was so excited to wear it. What sweet girls. I love that Katelee is learning the joy of sharing with others.

Dear Katelee,

We had a great day today. Library, park, sprinklers, many rousing games of Hungry, Hungry, Hippos, a funny dinnertime conversation, and cuddles while we watched Beauty and the Beast together. Yes, it was a very nice day, one of those days that you want to happen over and over again. I love the way your little hand fits in mine and how you let me hold it everywhere as we go on all our errands together.

Tonight, as part of your sweet bedtime prayer, you said:

"...and please bless that we won't grow up so slowly and that our birthdays can come more fastly..."

Oh, Katelee. If you only realized that I constantly pray for the exact opposite of that. Stop growing up so fast. Please.

Love,

Mom

Last Day of Swimming

It's official!

Our swimming days are over, or at least until next year.

We have had a great time this summer enjoying our community pool.

Katelee has become quite the good little swimmer this summer and has gained a lot of confidence in her swimming skills.

On our last day of family swimming we snapped a few pictures to remember our fun summer of swimming.

Good-bye, pool. See you next summer!

Back on Track!

Thank you, friends, for all your wonderful advice and support with my weight loss! I am back on track and losing weight again thanks to your great ideas! :) I appreciate your help! Here's to losing 15 more pounds! :)

I was asked what I was using to track my calories. I will put another plug in for this great website! I learned about it initially from my doctor, and I really love using this site! It's 100% absolutely free and such a great way to educate yourself about what you are really eating. It can track whatever you want it to: I have it tracking my daily calories, protein, carbohydrates, sodium, and water. If you have a certain nutrient or vitamin you want to eat more or less of, you can have it track that, too. Also, it offers great recipes, tips, and strategies for helping you be healthier. And this is just on the nutrition tab - you also track your exercise, weight, and other information if you want to! Anyway, it offers support groups if you want to be a part of them, and overall I think it's great and recommend it to anyone trying to be more health conscious.

Park Play

Katelee and I went to the park recently with a little friend we were watching. We had a great time, and I loved these pics I snapped of Katelee.

Doesn't she have a great smile? It melts my heart.

Katelee loves to play 'big sister.'

Cooking With KATELEE!

Hello, and welcome to the sweetest cooking show of them all:

Cooking With Katelee!

Today, the talented and beautiful Katelee is going to demonstrate how to make a delicious and gorgeous fresh peach pie that will WOW your guests on any occasion!

Start with a simple recipe for a pie crust. Katelee has used her always perfect pie crust recipe, and has just pulled her dough out of the fridge.

See how she rolls the dough out so nicely, using lots of flour?

Then transfer the roll dough into a pie dish. Spread it out evenly and cut off the excess. Katelee has even made a beautiful design on the edges. (Okay, so she did half the pie and her mom did the other half...)

Now, take 8-10 ripe peaches, cut into nice slices. (Katelee had her crew peel her peaches, too, by submersing the peaches in boiling water for 1 minute and then immediately transferring them to a bowl of ice water. The skins peel right off!) Lie the peaches neatly forming the bottom layer of the pie.

Mix the pie filling: 1/3 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1/4 c. butter (softened), and Katelee always recommends a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. Mix until it resembles the consistency of crumbs.

Sprinkle half the butter mixture on top of the peaches. Add more peaches until the pie is heaping full. Sprinkle the remaining butter mixture on the very top.

Now, roll out the remaining pie crust dough to form the lattice top of the pie. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips, as evenly and straightly as possible. :)

Using the strips, lay them in a nice criss-cross pattern on top of the pie. Oh, isn't this looking beautiful?

If you have any extra pie crust dough, don't let it go to waste! Find your favorite cookie cutter, and cut out as many shapes as you can. Katelee particularly loves hearts.

Carefully place the extra decorations in the perfect spots on your pie.

Show off to your family how absolutely gorgeous your pie is looking at this point!

Cover the edges of your pie with tin foil so they won't burn and set your pie on a baking sheet in case it spills over a bit. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn the oven off but allow the pie to cool and set up in the warm oven for an hour or two or until ready to serve.

GORGEOUS!

And gooey, sweet, warm, and sooooo delicious.

Thank you, Katelee for showing us how to make such a lovely peach pie!

Until next time . . . happy baking!

{P.S. Katelee really did create this pie almost completely on her own! I helped, of course, but I was so impressed with how much she was able to do alone. I was particularly impressed with the the lattice top, which she did all by herself.}

Never-Fail Pie Crust

• 2 c. flour
• 1 c. shortening
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. milk

Sift and stir the flour and salt together. Blend in the shortening with a pastry cutter. You can use two knives if you don't have a pastry cutter. Add the milk and mix it all together with a fork. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Ward Campout

We love our ward's annual camp out! Last year, the ward campout was held only a few short weeks after we moved here. We have many fun memories of meeting most of our ward members for the first time at the ward camp out. We were excited to go camping once again with our ward, and had a great time!

Katelee and Gerald did a great job of setting up the tent while I snapped pictures.

There was a large herd of elk really close to our campsite.

The best parts: visiting with friends, singing while Brother McNevin played the guitar, watching Katelee's joy as she got to run around with so many friends late into the night, eating s'mores, setting up camp, and getting to know one another better.

Go COUGARS!

Yesterday we were so excited to go to the BYU vs. Air Force game, since it was taking place only a half hour from home! We donned our BYU shirts, dug out Katelee's blue and white pom-poms, and headed out to spend an absolutely gorgeous autumn afternoon at the football game. The game might have been more fun had BYU played better . . . and not lost. But still, we were glad we went. It was tons of fun, and really cool to see the impressive number of BYU fans in attendance. It felt like a little piece of home! Air Force did some neat patriotic things, also, considering that it happened to also be September 11. Overall, we had a great time.

Raaaah, Raaaaah, Rah, Rah, Rah! GOOOOOOOOO COUGARS!

Farm Fun!

There is an authentic 1900's farm near our home that we love to visit. It is a true running farm, and it is always so much fun to visit. Last week we went with some friends and had a great time!

As usual, Katelee loved the farm houses and barns, the 'horses' (which were really mules), the pigs, and climbing the fences. This time, however, she was absolutely terrified of any loose animals, which included chickens, turkeys, peacocks, sheep, and so forth. She was also terrified of the big cow which was in it's pen but which mooooo-ed really loudly. Right at her. :) I was a little disappointed, because the farmers were letting the children help milk the cow in the barn, but Katelee wouldn't get within 10 feet of that cow after the scary cow had frightened her outside.

The scary cow that mooed at Katelee. ;)

Katelee wouldn't let me put her down because these sheep were loose and she was scared of them.

The gardens were so beautiful!

Katelee was excited to spot a little pumpkin.

Exploring the farm houses is always one of our favorite things to do.

We both thought this tree was pretty cool!

In one farm house, Katelee found this spinning wheel in the upstairs loft. She was the first to go up the stairs, and as soon as she saw it she began shouting, "This is Sleeping Beauty's house!!!" So. Dang. Cute.

The lake next to the farm is beautiful. Last time we saw a turtle there, but this time we mostly saw fish and birds.
So pretty.
Isn't this old wagon great?
This is the evil, scary, demon chicken. Or at least in Katelee's mind. I think he's kinda cute.

My good friend, Tiffany, was with me. She is a talented photographer; here are a few pictures she took from our day.

Until next time, farm.