Thanksgiving with the Chapins

We had a nice low key Thanksgiving this year with Mark's sister Jill and niece Amber. Here are some pictures of our festivities.

Here is Luke at the kids table. Notice the place setting cards supplied by Grandma Chapin (the kids loved them!)

Here we have the whole gang at out decked out table. That's my Hershey Kiss centerpiece in the middle that Jackson made for my birthday.

This is a video of Savanna singing a turkey song she learned in Kindergarten. If it looks like she's crying it's because there was "something in her eye." At least that's what she told me.

Great Recipe

I tried this recipe from the free Kraft Food & Family magazine I get in the mail and loved it. It tasted great and has a great presentation. Super for impressing guests. The only thing I may try next time is substituting the Ritz crackers with Italian bread crumbs but the crackers were fine. Hope you like it.

Chicken Parmesan Bundles

If you don't get this magazine in the mail I think there is a link on the web site to get it. It's free and nice to have around when writing a grocery list.

For Grandma

I was attempting to get Liam to make some animal noises for Grandma, but as most of you know kids don't like performing on command, especially with a camera in front of them. I thought this came out pretty cute anyway so this is for you Grandma. The rest of you will just have to suffer throught it :)

Birthday Thoughts

First, I'd like to thank you for all the birthday wishes. It's always nice to be remembered on your birthday. I can't believe I'm 35. It just snuck right up on me. I mean really, I'm half way to 70! The good news is, as many people have reminded me, "You're only as old as you feel." And by golly, I feel pretty young. A birthday is a great time to look over your life and evaluate what you've done and accomplished, so here is a brief look at what I've done, where I've been and what I feel I have accomplished. Maybe you'll learn something about me you didn't know :)

1. I have lived in Florida (twice), Louisiana, New York, Utah and Ohio.

2. Served a mission for the Lord.

3. Climbed in a bear den with a bear hibernating inside, searched abandoned mines for endangered bats, caught and tagged migratory hawks and cuddled up to baby walruses.

4. Graduated from college. (much to the surprise of my 8th grade history teacher)

5. Married the man of my dreams.

6. Won a trip to Hawaii.

7. Climbed Mt. Timpanogos with llamas. (Not a pleasant experience)

8. Gave birth to 4 children. (also not a pleasant experience.)

9. Learned to love gardening, sewing, quilting, and being a mom.

10. I have hiked to mountain lakes, snorkeled in two oceans, and looked a moose in the eye.

Wow, the Lord has been so good to me. He has blessed me beyond my wildest expectations. It makes me realize how much I need to do for the Lord. You know, 35 isn't so bad.

Our Deepest Fear

My sister-in-law Sara put this quote on her blog recently and I wanted to share it with all my blog friends. You may have heard it quoted in Akeelah and the Bee.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Marianne Williamson

Lately I have heard a lot of friends talk about feelings of inadequacy and self doubt, wondering how others may perceive them. I wish we could all see ourselves as "brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous". We see each other that way, why is it so hard to see ourselves that way too? We teach our youth about individual worth and divine nature, how can we teach that when we have such a hard time embracing it as adults? I think it must be an ongoing process. One of those principles that, for most, takes a life time to reach.

What are your thoughts on this?

P.S. I was talking to Leslie after I posted this and she got me thinking. So I'm adding another quesion. After reading the quote, do you agree? Is this "our deepest fear"?

Fun with Trick or Treating

Our neighborhood puts on a great Halloween. A lot of the houses are decorated to the nines, some even too scary for Luke. The people are great and have a good time with the kids. So here is a glimpse at our Trick or Treat adventure last night. Enjoy.

Jackson looks a little worried about that kid behind him.

This is kind of dark but you can see Liam's hesitancy at going near this guy. Actually he did this with everyone. He gave himself a wide 3 feet of safety space, but always said thank you.

I loved this! Some woman even decorated her lawn ornaments!

Savanna found her long lost side kick...a dog dressed as a princess. People crack me up!

This skull in someones yard shook when you'd walk by so Jackson decided to use his wand to put a spell on it.

I think what I loved most about last night is the camaraderie that was going on in the neighborhood. People that we never see during the rest of the year act like you're family. It makes you feel like you belong. I love to people watch and what a great time of year to do it! It was fun to see some houses that would get together with all their neighbors and hand out candy together in one driveway, some had fires going in fire pits, everyone was having a great time and there was a real family atmosphere. We had a great time!

Halloween and the Freedom of Choice

Wow, what a Halloween. We haven't had this much drama in I don't know how long! It all started about the middle of September when I innocently asked, "What do you guys want to be for Halloween this year?" The responses I received were reasonable enough, Harry Potter, Ballerina, Superman and oh ya Liam didn't respond but just wait, he's got drama too. I'm thinking, great Harry Potter should be easy enough, we have a ballerina costume and Luke was Superman last year. Boy was I wrong!

Jackson - The only problem he had was that his Harry Potter glasses kept breaking. So I really can't complain. Let's move on.

Luke - I decided to ask a friend if we could borrow her son's Harry Potter costume and it turned out that she also had one of those muscle Superman costumes. Great, I'm thinking Luke will love that. Wrong, he wouldn't go near it, wouldn't even try it on. Even with all my cajoling and I'm a real cajoler he just kept saying "No, it's too big". So, he wore his homemade costume from last year, fine, I can handle that.

Liam - Liam was a little tricky. I didn't think I had an old costume his size so I decided he would make the cutest little vampire. We'd slick back his hair, put a cape on him...here in lies the problem. After much searching a friend lent me the cutest little cape and I didn't' even have to make it! And of course, you guessed it, he wouldn't keep it on for anything! So he went in the skeleton costume I made for Luke when he was only 7 months old. Go figure, he was a big kid.

Savanna - OK, last but not least my lovely queen of drama. Savanna went through four costumes this year. The ballerina was never worn, for the church party she was Dora the Explorer, the school party got Snow White and as seen from the picture below, Trick or Treat was honored with Sleeping Beauty (all of which we already owned). Why you may ask. I believe it stems from DNA or her amazing skills of observation. Yes that's right, I take full responsibility. I was a very indecisive child and although I have learned to work with this trait it has carried over to a degree into adulthood. From the day of the church party every time I asked "What are you going to be?" I have heard," I don't knooooow, I have too many choices." I wish you could hear the voice. With every Halloween event we went through it again culminating in hysterics. On Halloween night it didn't help having Jackson screaming from the front door, "Come on, let's go!" Threatening to leave her home didn't help, it just took the hysterics to a whole new level. I finally had to say, "if you can't make your own choice I will have to make it for you." Then put the costume on her through lots of tears. She never fought me though, I wonder if she wanted me to decide for her, who knows. Anyway all's well that ends well. Once we got out the door, we had a great time and the kids got a great haul. So here's to Halloween and the freedom of choice, but maybe not too many.