Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everybody!!! Here is a picture of one of the pumpkins we carved on Monday night. I am enjoying the quite afternoon, before my kids get home from school and the CRAZINESS begins..... oops!!! I meant before all the FUN begins ha ha lol :)

I am also getting ready to whip up some of my kids' favorite Baked Potato Skins. I found this recipe, in 2003, from one of Taste of Home mini magazines that you can find by the check out lines at all the stores.

I made them for Halloween that year and we have made them for Halloween every year since. Give them a try and let me know how they turn out. My family loves them!!! Here is the recipe:

4 Large baked potatoes

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp pepper

8 bacon strip cooked & crumbled

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

4 green onions, sliced

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4 inch shell (save pulp for another use). Place potato skins on a greased baking sheet. Combine oil, Parmesan cheese, salt, garlic powder, paprika and pepper; brush over both sides of skins. Bake at 475 degrees for 7 minutes; turn. Bake until crisp, about 7 minutes more. Sprinkle bacon and cheddar cheese inside skins. Bake 2 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted. Top with sour cream and onions. Serve immediately. Yield: 8 servings.

Date Nights Anyone??? GIVEAWAY!!!

As my life continually gets busier and busier, I find it difficult to fit in a date night with my 'very handsome' husband :) When my kids were little, we loved to go out! I couldn't wait to spend and entire evening speaking adult language!!! Now that my kids are older, and it seems like we are never home in the first place, I love to spend an evening just hanging out at home!!! Crazy as it might sound, I love to make dinners!!! I love to get the laundry caught up!!! I love to have an evening spending time with my whole family at home!!!


But one of my most favorite evenings out is our bi-annual motorcycle trip to Driggs. It's not what it sounds like though... My husband and a group of his buddies ride their motorbikes from our house (in Archer) over the mountains to his sister's house (in Driggs). Here is a picture of Mike in action at the sand dunes!!!

The wives then pull the motorbike trailers (and an extra car) to Driggs, we meet the guys with a change of clothing. Then they take us out to eat!!! We usually go to O'Rourkes, a fabulous sports bar (their steak is soooooo good!!) But I absolutely enjoy the evening. I get girl time in, plus I get to spend time with my husband, hang out with a bunch of cool people, I get a great meal.... and no clean up!!!


I would love to get some fun 'date night' ideas from all of you! So here is the giveaway: Leave a comment and let me know what your most fun 'date nights' are. For every idea, you get one entry into the drawing. For every friend you refer to my blog, and they leave a 'date night' idea, you get 5 entries!!! (make sure to tell your friend that they need to leave your name on their comment so I know you were the referral). You will have until midnight on November 3rd to leave comments. I will have the drawing on the morning of the 4th and I will post the winner sometime that day. Good luck!!!

I will be giving away a big ole'pumpkin cookie cutter, with some really cute recipe cards which will include my favorite recipe for pumpkin cookies and brown butter frosting.... delicious!!!!!

Pumkin Carving!!!

One tradition that I absolutely love is carving pumpkins!!! Mike is a stick in the mud and says he would rather paint them. I say carving is way more fun!!!

Our favorite place to buy our pumpkins at at one of our neighbors' .... The Sutton's. Their 3 kids (ages 11, 9 & 7) help plant and take care of a huge pumpkin garden. Then they harvest all the pumpkins, gourds and squash. They always have the coolest set up for their pumpkin stand. Plus they are the cutest salesmen ever!




After Traven and Kacen finished their homework, the three of us went to pick out everybody's pumpkins.






It's a good thing the boys came with me. Their muscles came in handy when they loaded all the pumpkins in the trunk of our car.







Carving the pumpkin's was a lot of fun. Every time Kacen reached his hand into his pumpkin he would say, "Ewww! That feels sick!" But he and Traven thoroughly enjoyed the 'gross' part of the pumpkins.











Blaiklee and Kenzie just could not get over the 'gross' part of the pumpkins. So, I actually hollowed out both of the girls' pumpkins. They had fun with the carving part until Blaiklee had to take out some of her carvings from the inside of her pumpkin. She said it was disgusting, so Kenzie volunteered to help her sister out.

But as we all know, Kenzie is a bit of a tease, and she purposely dropped some of the pumpkin guts onto Blaiklee's leg. Well Blaiklee screamed and we were all laughing at her. Blaiklee was not happy at all. So to make Blaiklee feel better I grounded Kenzie for a full 5 minutes (I am so mean! lol) Shhh... don't tell Blaiklee, but it was so funny :)

The highlight of our night was taking two of our carved pumpkins over to our neighbors, Irma and Blanche. They are two widows that live right by us. They are so nice and our kids love to visit them. And they absolutely loved the carved pumpkins!!

Winner!!!!!

Heather is the winner of my giveaway!!!! Yeah :) You will have to email your address to me so I can put your prize in the mail. My email address is houseorhomeblogspot@sheacook.com

As I get older I look at my little sister and all her friends, and you guys make me feel old!!! Even though it is wierd to see you all married (and for the life of me I will never remember your new last names!!!) I am glad to hear from Teri how happy you are, and to hear about how your kids are growing. It has been so long since I have seen many of you. You will all have to email me your blogs so I can keep up to date, so I can see your all your beautiful kids, and so I can continue to feel as old as the hills!!!

Fun Giveaway :)

I thought it would be fun to take a poll of what everyone is dressing up as for Halloween. For everyone who leaves a comment on this blog entry, stating what their kids and/or they are going to dress up as on Halloween, will be entered into a drawing. The winner will received two Halloween decoration kits (pictured). I will post the winner on Monday morning (10-27-08).

The winner will have to email me their address on Monday so I can send it off in the mail. So, everyone has til Sunday evening to comment and then stay tuned on Monday to see if you are the winner!

In my family, my girls (Blaiklee 16 and Kenzie 14) are dressing up as, well... teenage girls!!! Who knew you could dress up for Halloween all year long! They are too old, and too cool to dress up. They are planning on hanging out with friends on the 31st. My oldest son, Traven 11, is planning on dressing up as a football player. Not too creative, but an huge improvement from the Ninja he has always been since he was 4. Kacen 10, is wanting to be a wizard for Halloween. I am trying to find a wizard hat and wand. He is so excited!!! I only have a couple years left of Halloween excitement from my kids. So all you moms out there with little kids.... enjoy your time. It will be over before you know it and then your kids will be dressing up as teenagers all year long too!

"NO WAY!"

Volleyball District Tournament for my oldest daughter, Blaiklee, ended last night. Her team was put out of the tournament by Idaho Falls High School. Blaiklee's team ended up in 3rd place... just one place from qualifying for the State Volleyball Tournament. :( There were a lot of tears and heartache from the girls on Blaiklee's team. As soon as Blaiklee lost her last match, I went straight from the VB court at IFHS to the Basketball Gym at Taylorview JHS to watch my other daughter Kenzie play basketball. Kenzie's team won a very close game, but her coach was disappointed in her team's play. So, Kenzie seemed a little down too.

All in all, I am equally proud of my girls. Both played their hearts out and gave their very best efforts. Our mood was definitely lightened when we arrived at home. As usual I went to take off my coat and hang it in the closet. As I took one arm out of my coat, and began to remove the other, something seemed to catch my coat behind my right shoulder. I thought, "why on earth can't I get my coat to come off?" As my daughter Kenzie came up the stairs, I pulled my coat hard to get it off. She started to laugh really hard when she saw the string of gum that held my coat and shirt together. "Now way!!!" I yelled, and Kenzie just kept laughing. I asked if she was going to come help me, and she just kept laughing. Here are the pictures of my glorious moment!

We girls sat around the kitchen eating popcorn, Kenzie soaking her sprained ankle in a tub of ice water and me, picking gum off of my shirt and coat. After a long, fun and disappointing evening it was good to know that we still had something to laugh at... me!!!!!

I LOVE FALL!!!!!

OK..... I have to be completely honest with you.... this is my first post and the whole blogging thing scares me to death!!!! I know many of you 'bloggers', and you are all pretty cool. So what is my problem??? I have no idea. Special thanks to my sister, Teri, who has not only laughed at me a few times, but has helped me to realize that "I can do it!!!" and who has helped me put this blog site together. (Thanks Teri!! You're the greatest!!)

So here is a little bit of info on me:

Fall is my very favorite season ever!!!! Is there a place in this world that I could live and have fall all year round????? I love the warm days and cool nights. I love the many warm colors that surround the countryside. Here is a picture of the scenery just beyond our property. It is absolutely beautiful!!!

To my family, fall means many nights of volleyball matches and long Saturday volleyball tournaments. Fall means cold, crisp Friday nights of high school football... GO MADISON BOBCATS! Fall also means potato harvest where the air is filled with the smell of freshly dug dirt and potatoes (it's an Idaho thing). And last but not least..... Fall means HALLOWEEN :) One of my kids' most favorite holidays!

stay tuned...

COMING SOON!!!