Mystery Dinner

I love our annual Mystery Dinner - it is so much work but we have so much fun so it's totally worth it.  I tried to come up with kid friendly food and lots of variety this year.  We did 3 courses of 3 items each.

This years menu:

 

Bones and Blood
(they were served with marinara sauce not ketchup but the picture ended up with ketchup)

To make these I bought breadstick dough cut each strip into 4 pieces then shaped into a bone.

Stay Puft

This is brownies with a marshmallow and heated up frosting -
the faces melted a little but they were delicious

Bloody Face
This is one that we do almost every year because the kids eat them and they are so easy

I want my Mummy

You can't see it very well but it was the one item I didn't get a picture of.
It was a hot dog wrapped in crescent rolls

Ghastly Ghost
So easy and so fun
Heidi made these and she #nailedit

Monster Mash
These little cheese balls were yummy and kid friendly but a lot of work to make

http://www.makeandtakes.com/mini-monster-cheese-balls

King Tut
Megan made these and they turned out amazing. 
She did oreo truffles dipped in white chocolate with mini chocolate chips for the eyes.

Candy Corn
Pineapple, clementine, whip cream and candy corn. 

 Graveyard
pudding cup, crushed oreos and some jello worms
I have to do the jello worms every year because the kids absolutely HATE them and it cracks me up.

I did drinks a little different this year.  I gave the kids 3 options and just had them choose.  They could do "the undead" which was a mummy juice box or "casper"  which was a white cup with a ghost face drawn on with milk or "love potion" which was red kool-aid with dry ice.  All the kids changed to love potion once we started serving drinks :)

Costumes are required :)

And of course the kitchen must be hidden :)

Tayson's Talk

Tayson gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting today.  He did such a great job and didn't seem nervous at all.  Then again, what did I expect...the kid loves a captive audience.  :)

His talk was on James 1:5 - he had such a great joke at the start.  Here is the first part of his talk:

Hi my name is Tayson Johnson I just turned twelve and I got the preisthood two weeks ago and I'm talk already - sigh.  To introduce myself I'm going to tell you three things I like and three things I don't like.  I like video games, sports and my awesome dad.  Three things I don't like are homework, waking up early and my dad telling me to write things about him being "awesome".  I was asked to speak on James 1:5.

Luke gave a talk in primary too.  It was crazy having both boys give talks on the same day.  His talk was on how wholesome activities strengthen the family.  He wrote his whole talk and even changed it a little on the fly because he realized our family bonded more in Cancun staying in a hotel together than just focusing on the Whale Shark tour :)

It was a very proud mom day today!

Luke's Party

Luke wanted to have his birthday party at Classic Skating.  It was so much fun and all the kids had a blast.  There are bounce houses, arcade games, skating, scooters, pizza and ice cream.  And all the parents could hang out while the kids wore themselves out.

Heidi came with all 6 kids - so I got to cuddle with sweet baby Jack.

Our neighbor Ryan was the only friend who came - and it was his first time to ever eat ice cream.  He said it was good but really cold!

 

Riding to school

Sophie can ride a bike!  It's very exciting and the hope is that it will help her get to school faster.  She tends to stop a lot on her scooter and on Monday all the kids were late for school because they were waiting for her.  I decided to let Luke and Claire go with Glen today and I would help Sophie - she can ride her bike but has a hard time starting when she stops.  We made it about 2 blocks and she stopped and told me her knees hurt and she was too tired to keep going.  She has no problem riding that far if it's to go play at the park or go to grandma's house...for some reason she wears out fast when she's going to school.  I guess we will stick with the scooter for a little longer and she can leave 10 minute earlier!  Silly girl.

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke hit the double digits!  We started the day with birthday pancakes before school.  With Tayson in middle school he leaves really early but I woke all the kids up early so he could be there to sing to Luke.  Then everyone was off to school.  Luke wanted me to bring donuts to his class - and there was another girl in his class with the same birthday who brought donuts too.  Talk about some very excited kids who got to eat 2 donuts after school (sorry to their moms).  Then I let him skip swimming and just play computer after school.  We went to Noodles and Co. for his birthday dinner - until this weekend when Todd is home and we go out for real.  Then I took the kids to Coney's for ice cream.  I sure do love you bubba.  You are such a great kid and you make me so  happy.  I love seeing you grow up and what an amazing youth you are becoming. 

Tayson's First Temple Trip

Todd and I took Tayson to the Provo Temple to do baptisms.  We went Friday while my mom and dad were working in the baptistry.  Since BYU is out the temple was empty and we got to spend lots of time with my parents.  Tays did family names which I think always makes the experience sweeter. It was so amazing to take my son to the temple.  He is so grown up! 

I was talking to my dad about when I was 12 and how different my youth was with going to the temple.  The closest temple to us when I was 12 was Washington DC.  Then the Chicago Temple was built (1985) and my first temple trip was when I was 14 and our youth went to the Chicago Temple.  It was a weekend trip and we did museums and the temple.  I only went to the temple a few times until I came out to BYU. 

Baby Jack

Heidi had her baby!  Timothy Jack.  7 lbs 7 oz, 21 inches long born at 7:00 pm.  Baby Jack has tons of dark hair and is the cutest little guy around.