this is halloween

I wanted to go with the garden theme but Nate couldn't decide what he wanted to be until saturday morning so I had no time to make him a costume. He is a rushed version of a giant rake, Oscar is a garden gnome, and I am a sunflower. I made all of our costumes. Oscar hated his hat of course and kept eating his cotton ball beard. We didn't do much since Oscar started to unravel at 6pm and was in bed by 7, but it was fun to get in the spirit.











This is my spider web cake for my domingo delicioso entry. I baked it for our church halloween carnival. I didn't come up with the idea. I just copied a spider web cookie recipe.

oscar loves to bounce

Oscar's been loving playing with the little toys on his play chair that his uncle eric gave him, but he hadn't discovered that he could bounce in there until a few days ago. As soon as he figured out he could jump in there on his own, he's been bouncing non-stop.
it's the best to hear the little repetitive thumping of his feet on the floor.


Here he is eating his cereal his bouncer and he can't stop bouncing for one second.

domingo delicioso - halloween treats

candy corn cupcakes. i'm sick of cupcakes but i needed something easy and fun for a church event.


white cake batter from box. split it in half after you make it and dye one half orange, and one half yellow. spoon in yellow into cupcake shells and then orange on top. and voila


white caramel corn. make your own popcorn in the pan without seasoning. add salty roasted peanuts, candy corn, reeses pieces. melt a bar of almond bark vanilla (white chocolate stuff) and pour it over mixture. mix it up and let it set on a cookie sheet. then eat.

I love Nate. Do you? Show me then

Nate doesn't surprise me with roses or chocolates randomly. He does however melt my heart when he brings me treats from work like these...



Because of these kinds of things he does for me, I really need to help him out in something big and I will need all the help you and friends can throw my way.

Nate LOVES


That's right, he LOVES The Amazing Race. And because he loves it, I love it too, and it is now our favorite show and an exciting part in our week. I had never watched it before Nate, so I can understand if you haven't seen it. But you're gonna wanna watch it as soon as possible, i.e. Sunday nights at 7 pm PST.

Anyway, Nate and his brother Dave have been wanting to apply to be on the show for some time now but haven't been able to make a video of themselves yet for the application. If you know these two brothers, you'd know they would WITHOUT A DOUBT win the 1 million dollars if they could just get picked for the show. (unless they were to get bad luck with sucky cab drivers or something) I, however, willingly admit that I could never make it past one challenge in one episode. I'm not sure if my navigation skills could even get me to the airport to make it to a challenge let alone win one. Nate and Dave though are the ultimate team to be reckoned with and here's why:



-They're both very inteligent AND street smart
-They're quick thinkers and don't panic, but excel in a fast paced bind
-They're AMAZING with direction and knowing where they are and the fastest way to get there
-They have savvy minds and think outside the box
-They're natural athletes and can handle any of the physical challenges
-They have no fears of heights, bugs, speed, weird foods, etc. They're fearless
-They're fast
-They're polite and courteous
-They're respectful and appreciative of other cultures
-They've lived in other countries and are experienced in getting themselves around abroad and using foreign currency (this was a problem last season)
-One speaks Spanish and the other speaks Portuguese
-They're funny
-They're a good physical pair being that they're men and their height differences and different strengths give them a really good leg up on their competition
-They're good dancers

(here they are on our wedding day. dave was not supposed to be holding flowers.)




And there are plenty of other things that I just can't think of right now, but the point of this list is for you to help them out on creating their concept/idea for their 3 minute application video. I need you to brainstorm hard because as Dave said the other day, "You have to already be a celeb these days to be on reality t.v." Which is kind of becoming true, so they need all the help they can get. I think they need a "schtick," you know like "their thing," and all I've been able to come up with is playing up their height difference and that they're Mormon. All the teams on the show kind of have to be given a title. There was a duo of acapella singers, there are two girls that are doctors, there's a father and daughter whose a beauty queen, and then there are the asians. That's what everyone calls them, the asians. I know it's not PC, but it's what happens on the Amazing Race.

(here are the asians)


And "the asians" just so happen to be my absolute favorites. I don't know what i'll do if they get kicked off. They are a father and son team, Michael and Kevin, and I love them so much. I usually have a perma grin when they're on, and they've even made me cry once. I want them to win the million this year.

Anyway, my Nate needs your help. This is something I know he would and could win. He at least deserves to make it on the show and experience the fun challenges and the traveling with his brother. I love this guy and he has got to make it on the show. So please send me your ideas, please please please. We need to catch those producers' attention. If we use your idea and they make the show, we will compensate you in whatever way you see fit.

Grandparents and Max come to visit

My grandparents and my brother came to visit for the weekend. They were excited to see Oscar. It also happened to be my birthday on Sunday so it ended up being a great weekend to have them here to celebrate.













So happy Max came. Love my brother and Oscar loved his uncle.


I'm so mad about this. This is the first time Oscar is trying cereal and the camera decided to run out of memory without letting me know until I uploaded the video to the computer. So all you get is a total teaser of about 7 seconds.