Cool Video from Yahoo!

You may have seen this on Yahoo--I love this video. Just so fun and inventive! It gives new illumination to the ideas of dreaming/sleepwalking--so creative!

We'll post some holiday pics soon--we had a great time in Houston and in Las Vegas.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe another year and decade has slipped by?
Where does the time go?

Scarecrow Dip

Here is the picture of the Scarecrow Dip I made for Evan's office Octoberfest celebration. This is actually Mexican Seven Layer Dip camouflaged with refried beans and a funny face and certainly not German or Octoberfest fare usually, but it is fall and scarecrows come out in the fall so I thought it would be fun to serve. Just a note, Evan said that people didn't know how to get at it with the lettuce collar, so once he removed it they ate it up!

The idea came from a Pillsbury Seasonal Cookbook from 2006 and can be found here:

http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/Recipes3/9880.html

Have fun! Don't you just love all the fun and spooky treats you can make this time of year for fall and Halloween! Katie: Post those pictures of all those cute ideas you had to make for enrichment! Pronto!

Fall has arrived!

I wanted to try a new crock pot recipe and today seemed like the perfect day because it was rainy all day and the temperature has dropped from a warm, humid 80 degrees this morning during seminary to 55 degrees right now.

This is a basic lasagna recipe, but you just use the crock pot and it is so much easier. I did substitute 15 oz. of cottage cheese and 1 cup sour cream for the ricotta cheese. I would have added some green onions to this mixture, but I didn't have any. It's basically the same lasagna recipe as the Lazy-day Lasagna in the ward cook book that Katie put together a few years ago but in a crock pot. I did end up cooking it too long, so I would recommend about 4 hours on low. It was very good! Hurrah for Fall!

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/slow-cooker-lasagna-114123.aspx

(How do you make this link live?)

"Step in Time"

We were thrilled to be able to see the Broadway musical, "Mary Poppins" this past week. It was fabulous! Both stars playing Mary and Bert from the original Broadway cast appeared in the touring company along with the sister of the wife of our first counselor who we hometeach also in the ensemble. Almost all of the songs from the movie were retained (we did miss "I Love to Laugh" and "Stay Awake") and some new ones were added, plus an expanded storyline. But one of our favorite scenes was the tap number, "Step in Time" where Bert defies gravity near the end of the scene. Amazing! Here it is below with an intro by the composer of the new music. Enjoy! (The grand finale is spectacular!)

Yes...You are seeing double...........

Have you all seen this incredible video of one person singing a Michael Jackson medley? This guy, Sam Tsui and his arranger, Kurt Schneider are both incredibly talented!



Here he is again in a video of "Don't Stop Believing," that song made popular again on "Glee." So fun to listen to!

That Phenomenal BYU/OU Game!

Here we are at the A-MAZING brand new Cowboys stadium waiting for the game to start.



And now, inside the stadium! Note the BYU across the end zone! So cool to have the Cougars in Texas playing in the "8th Wonder of the World!"

We could not believe the size of that screen (from the 20 yard line to the other 20 yard line--maybe 180 feet?)! And the HD clarity was unbelievable!



But of course, the most unbelievable thing of all was the way the Cougars played the game. Yes, there were several mistakes on both sides, but the way the team held the Sooners back when it really counted and wouldn't allow any more points was beyond belief. Way to go, Cougars!





Chris was so excited that he lost his voice and he and Sarah were so glad that they came up to witness the historical win.



Note the final score and the shot of Bronco hugging the OU coach. Now that's a sight to behold!

We especially enjoyed attending the special fireside the night before. We had planned to go all along, but then Chris was crushed when he found out we had to have separate tickets for the event. Chris got the bright idea for Evan to use his position to get us in and in fact, Evan knows all those Stake Presidents (It was Pres. David Blake of Carrolton--a native Houstonian who Kathy and I know--and his sister is in our ward). So he just had to email him and we were told when to be at the stake office entrance.

Well, we were nearly the first ones there! It was a thrill to sit up so close to the players and their families and to hear their talks and testimonies. My favorite part was when they all sang "Army of Helaman" with such gusto. And then Coach Mendenhall's wife spoke and then the Coach spoke. So great! He told a great story about running out of gas in a desolate area on his motorcycle and waiting for 45 min. for the first car to come by--which went out of its way to pass him by because, as he said, "I didn't look like who I am." (He was dressed in leather pants with a Harley Davidson leather jacket on and probably looked formidable.) A great lesson to always represent a follower of Christ.

Afterward, Chris had several players sign a special photo (alongside all the other 12-year-olds with footballs to sign, as Sarah pointed out!) and then we watched them load into the bus and we went off to eat at The Cheesecake Factory.

Then the crowning event was winning that game in one of the most exciting nail-biters I've ever seen. That sea of crimson that so outnumbered us at first, disappeared in seconds and Cougar fans stayed late into the night to cheer and sing and revel in the glory of the moment. We were all glad we went!

RISE AND SHOUT THE COUGARS ARE OUT.....!

Paper Roses

You might have to be a bit older to understand the title reference (a Marie Osmond song from the 70's), but I just saw the coolest and easiest way ever to make roses to adorn a package or a card or another craft. I found it via The Shabby Nest linked to Creature Comforts here:

http://creaturecomforts.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/tutorial-tuesda.html

Pretty easy, huh?



Do a grouping of different size flowers and make a little bouquet on a package. So fancy and easy!

Posts to come soon on the amazing BYU vs OU game in the phenomenal Cowboy stadium (that screen is about 180 feet long!) Go Cougars! 14 to 13! We beat OU #3!