How Our Christmas Mouse Came to Be

One evening Adam flipped the light on and started hollering at me from the kitchen. He'd seen a mouse!

I bought different kinds of traps and set them up in the kitchen. A few hours later we heard, “SQUEEK, SQUEEK!" We'd caught it.

Next I'm hearing Adam say, “Awww, Anna, it's so cute...is there any way we can get it off the sticky paper? Rescue it and let it go?" Poor Adam instantly felt bad for that little rodent, with its pink tail and big black eyes. You could say it had him at “squeak."

 “It's so scared, I feel bad, " he continued on. And there we sat on the floor with the mouse, trying to determine its quick and humane disposal. Could we put it in a bag and let it pass out? Should we run over it with the car? How about we put it outside for a cat? (Obviously that would cause all kinds of trouble with the sticky paper. So that was out.) Adam even called his MOTHER to explain our situation. She told us to smack it with a piece of wood.

In the end, we put the poor thing in a bag so we couldn't see it and Adam took it outside and dropped a brick on it. Twice. Just to make sure.

You may think us silly. And part of me thinks so too. But I love that Adam was worried about the mouse. I'm glad he has a good heart and wants to do things quickly and humanely. And in this case, I also think it's cute he called his mom.

Little did I know, his mom thought Adam's concern was endearing and a little humorous too. While the family was in Kansas for Thanksgiving she told everyone our mouse story and bought us this Christmas ornament in memoriam of our little mouse.

And that is how our new Christmas Mouse came to be.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Filling

I've made these about three times in the last two months. They are SOOO good—soft, moist. I have a skinny friend who ate TWO in one evening, so they MUST be good right? I took a batch to our Ward Christmas Party and watched as some people licked the frosting off, then commenced to suck and slurp out the filling with their tongue before finally devouring the cupcake. So I think I had better share the wealth. Click here.

Thankful for Friends

This year we found ourselves in an orphaned state with no family around during Thanksgiving. So we spent it with our other orphan friends and had a blast! First activity of the day, Turkey bowl!

Lee must have been excited for Turkey Bowl. He showed up in our driveway an hour early! (Lee and Adam are besties.)

Afterward we came home and set up tents for camping in the back yard. The boys made fun of me for thinking the mattress would fit. But guess what? It did.

While the food was finishing up—we did a little bit of dressing up.

Adam and I had decided several weeks ago to make Café Rio Salads instead of Turkey. I mean, think about it...do you ever CRAVE turkey? I crave leftover turkey sandwiches but that's not the same. So, we gave our friends fair warning when we invited them. Lucky us, Jamison (Lee's wife) loves Café Rio so they were all in. (Although, I am kinda wanting a pumpkin pie right now.) And in case you were wondering if a person can gain weight on this kind of Thanksgiving meal? The answer is undoubtedly yes. 

After stuffing our faces as any feast will demand...we went for a walk at the park where we found one of those old merry-go-rounds. Can I tell you, a full stomach and spinning in circles doesn't mix...but it's hilarious! We spun Adam around and around until he yelled "It hurts us!" (Anyone?)

Later that night we had s'mores and played with light sabers in the back yard.

Adam wrote his initials.

The next morning we had french toast from fancy bread flavors.

Then later, you guessed it—we went Geo Caching! 

And stopped at another park.

And hung over the edge of the grand canyon.

The second Geo Cache we searched for was a great hide, it took a while to find. Avery wanted to continue  "treasure hunting" after this cache offered a toy she liked.

Geo caching is addictive. After you've experienced it you can't look at the world the same. Every place you look could be a hiding place.

We finished off the day with a couple rounds of Blokus (it's a great 4 player game. It takes strategy but you don't have to be smart or completely zoned in to play. Right Lee? It's like tetris, but totally not.) Then the kids went to bed and we watched three more episodes of our current addictive Walking Dead.

We went home happy, exhausted, and full. (Later that night, in the wee hours of the morning our adventures ended with two smoke alarm batteries dying within a couple of hours of each other. Awesome.)

We like you guys. Yes, we do. 

Rocky Mountain Tradition

Last year, I was going through my journals and found the exact date Adam proposed. (I didn't think I had recorded it; we both thought he'd proposed in October—not true, it was November 15th, 2005 a Tuesday, on the doorstep of my office at work.) So we've decided to repeat the treat we had that day on the same date for the rest of our lives! I love making new traditions; probably because we don't have many yet. We had eaten Sushi at the Fat Sumo, and then walked to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for carmel apples.

Sushi is expensive, so the main tradition will be the apples. However, this year I've been saving whatever cash I get here and there, and we decided to try Piranha—Killer Sushi (Isn't that a great name for a sushi place?)

For those of you who LOVE Wild Sushi—Piranha is good, but not as creative with their flavors and the selection is less.

After Sushi we excitedly went for the Apples. Adam's was covered in white and milk chocolate with nuts—Bear something flavor. Mine was the Apple Pie flavor, white chocolate, cinnamon and sugar. Yum Yum.

It's so nice having something to look forward to. We should come up with a tradition for every month at least!

Share Site

I've got a sister site up so some of the more "public worthy" posts can be Pinned from there and found via search engine. Click Here for the Sister Site. I'm still filling it with content but there are a few posts up already. And don't worry, your grandma's sister's best friend's daughter is still welcome to visit us here on Phases of the Moons, just no pinning please :)

Garden or rather Bugden

The Pumpkin Masters

Our friends invited us over for pumpkin carving this year—t'was fun.

After watching these two run around in matching outfits, admittedly, I would like Adam and I to have a skeleton getup too. Do I feel a tradition coming on?

I am told rubbing flour into the holes of the design helps to see it better. (I could see it just fine before. But it is kind of cool looking and it ignites some new ideas....) 

All this child wanted to do was stab. Stab. Stab. (I think the pumpkin's face is quite appropriate considering.) She even posed her "stabbing pose" for me. Do you think it's too early to show her Psycho?

The Campaign Trail: Vote for Excellence

At the close of every year we put on a program for the young women to show off the personal progress goals they've been working on. Every year it's a panic. Girls are furiously making things (because face it...they procrastinate) and the adults are desperately trying to find a theme and program agenda that includes as little work as possible.

I sat down to brainstorm and a patriotic/voting theme seemed quite appropriate this year, super easy too. So I whipped up an outline complete with decoration, invitation, speech, dessert, and program suggestions. I presented the idea to the president, she said yes, and everything was a go!

Above: The invitation. I designed the center "vote button" and we had the girls cut them out and add embellishments.

Guests were asked to dress patriotically...and you know I have nothing red, white, or blue in my closet? I ended up wearing a white shirt and tie of Adam's. He did a nice job dressing me don't you think? The bishop told me I should run for office. I guess people take you more seriously in a shirt and tie.

We served red, white, and blue cupcakes—I did the white ones which were lemon sponge cake with lemon curd filling and a buttery cream cheese frosting; all from scratch. So delicious. (The torch is the young women logo. It worked perfectly on these little flags.)

Our president had access to her parent's stash of office decorations. Now that's the way to go. We didn't have to spend much of our budget. Heck, I even have a large (casket size) American Flag that we hung on  the wall behind the desserts. And I learned a new word: bunting. Everything looked awesome!

As a finale we planned a slideshow of the girls "On the Campaign Trail"—photos of them throughout the year. (I spent SIX hours on it and we couldn't get it to play. Blarg! A disappointment...but hey— no party goes without a hitch.)

If you would like to use this theme: I have made the outline, invitation, and flag files available here. 

Dennis and Amanda's Wedding

Dennis is Adam's older brother. He got married this weekend in Kansas City. Heidi, their sister put this wedding together. She did a nice job as per the usual. I also think she swung it so my guy could buy a black suit instead of renting a tux. Nice move. Now Adam's got a keeper in the closet.

Kids are the easiest to take pictures of sometimes. You wouldn't believe how many adults just glare at the camera like they are afraid of it. (Maybe it was me...but I think I'm nice.)

Also, I am covetous of Heidi's gold candle sticks. She decorated everything everywhere with them. I'd like to know where you find that many?

Cake, candy, and candids.

Heidi had the reception in her backyard. It must have been the coldest day in Kansas City this year—our family drove in our fire pits and we had those going, which were actually a nice touch. (Addendum...we did not drive IN our fire pits. We drove in our cars. Bad grammar Anna, bad.)

(Korina was the main photographer.)