Mouth of Babes: 12/9

This weeks lesson was on the Resurrection. We taught the kids about it a few weeks ago when we had a lesson on Christ so we tried to test their knowledge on what they knew. Let me tell you, these kids are smart! They explained the Resurrection to us! At the end, we had a few kids come up and they would wear my coat and we would say that it was their body. Then, Nephi would tell them how they died (Sorry parents, it wasn't that detailed) and we would take the coat off and they would "fly away" into the spirit world. We would tell them that it was "time" and they would come back into the jacket. They LOVED it. So simple and so easily entertained. We love these kids.


From the mouths of our babes:

Mallory: We missed you at the ward Christmas party! Santa came.
K: What? Where?
Mallory: Here. At the church, last night.
K: Oooo, I didn't tell my Mom! Ahh, man. Well, we were tired. We stayed home and watched a movie.
Mallory: Oh, cool.
K: And ate pizza in the basement with bread sticks and ketchup. YOU missed out.

--

(The kids were really rowdy when we first got into the classroom. We usually let them tell us a few stories from the week before we start the lesson.)

Nephi: Okay everyone, wave your hands in the air like you just don't care!

(All the kids wave their hands in the air.)

P: I did it the best!
K: I did it the bestester!
P: (Looks at K with a sad face) Well, that wasn't nice.
K: (Yells) WE ALL DID IT THE BEST!

--

(During the same period of time as the above mentioned quote.)

P: Can I touch your shoes? (They had a flower on them.)
Mallory: Sure.
K: Can I touch your shoes?
(Both touching my shoes.)
P: Can I touch your tights? I LOVE polka dots!

Eventually, they all come over and are all touching my tights, then my dress, then my belt, and then we pulled them off of me. Then we hear this:

C: Well, I'm lucky because I can do this...(He reaches over and starts rubbing the hair on Nephi's arm. HA! It was awkward.)

--

(After the prayer.)

P: You (facing towards 'K') need to fold your arms and close your eyes during the prayer.
K: I can't. I can't close my eyes! See! (She starts blinking her eyes like crazy.)

--

(We started talking about death and the Resurrection.)

P: When I was born, there was a bright light...(Nephi and I look at each other in shock.)...and an angel appeared! And turned me into a princess!
K: Uhhh, Okay...(Sarcastically.)
P: What??? That's what my Dad told me!

--

(We brought brownies because it was 'K' birthday 2 weeks ago and it was our cute twins birthday, too. We sang to them and then they all grabbed a brownie and we had 1 sugar cookie left over. 'K' and 'P' both wanted it but they seemed to come to an agreement where 'P' got it and 'K' took a brownie.)

K: You wanna split that cookie?
P: No thanks.
K: (In shock) Whhhhhaaa? I thought we were friends!? Friends split cookies.
P: No...they would get their germs.

---

Bah! Today was great. You can see that 'P' and 'K' took over the majority of the conversations today. They each have their "Sunday" but those two are usually the stars of the show. We die over them each week like it is the first but they know us, and we know them. The girls are sweet and compliment me on my outfits and they all drool over Nephi's teaching and his magic. The 2 hours we spend with them are not enough and today we asked the Bishop if we could move up with them next year to the older class and he said go for it! We just have to get the primary presidents approval. :)

See the other previous Mouth of Babes here!

Holiday Hoopla

We took advantage of the holiday "hoopla" and had a great weekend! This week was crazy for me with work. I got put as lead event planner on a new event and it has added a lot to my work load. It will be a crazy first quarter, but I am excited to be part of it all. I have been loving my work lately as I feel more adjusted and comfortable with the team and responsibilities. But, always looking forward to a weekend with Nephi!

Friday evening we went to my friend, Sarah, daughters dance recital. Needless to say, I left craving a little girl to dress up and coach on the sidelines. She was adorable and did a great job! We love, Miss Laken!

 
Saturday, Nephi worked during the day and Cait and I ran errands, shopped, and cleaned. We had our ward Christmas party so I made these yummy treats and then headed off to the party where we played a very important role...

Can you spot us? Yep, we were Mary & Joseph. It was great and as soon as we walked in the door at the party, we were bombarded by our kiddos telling us how they met Santa and all the random facts that we can never predict. It was a great party. Have we mentioned how much we LOVE our ward? Because we do.

After the party, we met up with Sarah and Stephen and grabbed some hot chocolate and headed off to tour the lights in Idaho Falls. We hit up "Candy Cane Lane" and then went to a house right by it that actually had Santa, Mrs. Clause and a penguin outside. It was amazing! Sar and I took this pic with the igloo. They used $500 worth of glue sticks to build it. Insane.

We came home and watched A Christmas Story. I've only seen parts on TV but Nephi and Stephen are obsessed and enjoyed themselves very much.

Sarah got a cool camera kit for her phone and took this pic of us with her fish eye lens! Way cool.

We also engaged in the holiday spirit by adopting a child to give Christmas to. My family did this all growing up and I have countless memories of us delivering Christmas to a family every Christmas. It was a great lesson to learn and a tradition Nephi and I will be incorporating. This year, we chose an 8 year old girl. I, of course, have no idea what 8 year old girls want so we basically got her anything in pink. Her poor parents are going to hate us for all the trinkets and make-up we got her...sorry ;)

Looking forward to the continuance of holiday activities this week--Relief Society Christmas dinner, Christmas Bunco night, and 2 work Christmas parties.

A Recipe Post: Peppermint Macaroons

I am not a baker--I'd rather cook. Mostly because baking is dangerous (calories, carbs, and high maintenance baking times/measurements) but Christmas baking is too fun to pass up. 

For our ward party I made Peppermint Macaroons. We had homemade coconut macaroons at our wedding and I will never forget getting to the hotel with the yummy goody basket my sisters made us with the food from the wedding and eating that macaroon in bed. Pretty sure I melted right there and then. They have been on my radar ever since.

But doesn't the word macaroon intimidate you? Well, don't let it. It was too easy. My co-worker gave me this recipe and it was a huge success!

Peppermint Macaroons

(Makes about 2-3 dozen.)
**I made my notes and adjustments in red.**

2 egg whites (at room temperature) I would add another egg white to help it set up better.
1/2 tsp salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (14-ounce) packages shredded sweetened coconut This is a lot of coconut. Use a big bowl to fold it in so the wet mixture gets thoroughly mixed.
1 cup white-chocolate morsels I only had about a 1/4 cup left and wish I had more! They were the perfect addition.
1/2 cup crushed peppermints The chunks will melt and stick to the parchment paper depending on placement so if your not a big fan, leave out or use flavoring instead of actual peppermint. I loved it.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. I don't have parchment paper so I used wax (don't know how different they are) but it stuck to the paper! Boo! So the second batch I used my cookie liner (which is the best purchase you cookie makers will ever purchase) and they were perfect. I am going to buy another one this week so I can put more batches in the oven at one time.

Mix egg whites and salt until foamy (2 min.). Mix in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Fold in coconut, chocolate chips, and crushed peppermint.

Use spring ice cream scoop to shape dough onto pan. Bake for 20 minutes, let them cool on pan for 10 minutes, then move to  wire racks. Make sure they are small and round. You can't have the edges stick out because they down flatten or rise, they stay the same and you know they are done when they start to brown.

They turned out great! I took a whole plate to our ward Christmas party and put the candy dish in the middle because I couldn't fill the platter and it was completely wiped clean, candy and all by the time we left! I highly recommend trying it for those coconut lovers.

Mouth of Babes 12/2

We had a smaller class today which was a relief but the lesson was: I can show love for animals.

Enough said. 

(P is on one side of me and K is on the other. I am trying to tell Nephi how many copies to get of a handout and I hear this conversation...)

K: Hey, (tapping my thigh over and over again), Hey, ummm, Hey! 

P: Don't call her "Hey"! (Sternly) Teacher....Teacher....

--

Bishop: (Holds up a Book of Mormon) What is in this book?

I: PAGES! (He is in the sunbeams class in front of us.)

--

(Nephi interviews a few of the kids asking them questions and recording it on the phone.)

Nephi: What's your favorite animal?

C: Um, a squirrel. 

Nephi: How old do you want to be when you grow up?

C: Um, 88. 

Nephi: What do you want to be with you grow up? 

C: Um, sell water softeners. 

--

(I would describe an animal and they would guess what animal I was describing.)

Mallory: I have a bushy tail and I love to run up trees. 

P: Umm...MORT! 

Mallory: No...

K: What's a Mort!?

P: It's a bush animal...(duh)...from Madagascar. 

--

(We have a little girl in our class whose parents are divorced and she comes every other week and missed a few weeks. We walked into sharing time and I welcomed her and told her we missed her.)

K: Um, what's that girls name?

(I tell her.)

K: Do you think we should have her say the prayer because she missed a few weeks? 

Mallory: Yes, sure. That is a great idea.

--

These kids never cease to amaze us. We are in love. 

Oh, and stay tuned for next week. We've been asked to be Joseph & Mary in the Ward Party nativity scene....Yeah, looking forward to it. 

Favorites

On Saturday I went to my first "Favorite Things" party. I have been dying to throw one and was invited to attend with some girlfriends and had a blast!

We all brought our favorite treat (I brought a veggie tray in the shape of a Christmas tree) and snacked, played some fun "favorite" games, and then of course opened our favorite gifts.

Each of us brought one or a few of our favorite things to share. There were 8 of us so we brought 7 gifts to give out of our "favorite" thing. My favorite thing was hosting and delivering cute goodies so I gave them a 4 cupcake holder box with cute cupcake liners, cookie bags, Christmas tags, and ribbon so they could deliver goodies. I didn't take a picture but it turned out cute!

I got a bunch of fun stuff and it was fun to mingle and get to know these ladies. I needed some good girl time and I hope we do it again next year!

Mouth of Babes: 11/25

We didn't see the kiddos last week because of the Boise Temple Dedication so we were bracing for a rough one today...and it was.

Brother Guymon's fan club. Seriously.

From the mouth of our babes...

P: (After the prayer) Oh I forgot that Jesus died for us...that makes me so sad! 

--

K: (Pointing to the boy pouting in the corner) Hey! What's wrong with this kid!?

P: I don't know...let's cheer him up! 

(P danced and tried to make him laugh and her and K ended up giving him 1 of their M&M's.)

P: We did it! We cheered him up! 

--

C: (Holding her drawing.) Mom, look what the boy teacher helped me draw!

--

P: I went to Disney World for 9 days!

K: I went to Disney World, too!

P: Uhh, are you sure? I didn't see you there...

--

(After we had a few pouting kids...)

Nephi: Gosh, I guess we are all just having a rainy day. 

P: Well, I'm not having a rainy day!!!! 

--

Primary Chorister: What's coming up soon?!

Kids: Christmas!

Primary Chorister: And what is Christmas about?

K: Presents! And Toys! 

--

(K sneezes) 

K: Sorry for sneezing and coughing so much.

Mallory: That's okay--just cover your mouth. 

--

(K was picking her nose all day)

K: MY NOSE HURTS!

Mallory: Well stop picking your nose! 

The Birthday Boy

Happy 26th Birthday to this guy...

Nephi is honestly the coolest person I know. 

Here are a few of my favorite things about him:

He is the nicest most kind man I have ever met. 

His dimples...he has 3 of them in his face. I can't wait till our babies come out with his dimples. And eyes. And huge baby head. I am just hoping they aren't 10 lbs...

His dance moves. 

His teaching skills. He knows how to adjust teaching to peoples needs. Wish I saw him as a missionary.

His random skills. He is great at editing videos, playing guitar, piano, and any other instrument, or random game or useless knowledge of random facts. He's got skills. 

He is really good at staying level headed in a crisis. 

He makes me smile and laugh, a lot.

We celebrated his birthday on Friday with his parents and Neal & Angie. We went and saw Lincoln (great movie) had dinner, opened presents and ate cake! Nephi got a gun from his parents and could not have been happier. Best present ever. 

Turkey burger sliders for dinner! They are his favorite. 

4 layer chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting. Note to self: Never make again. It was too rich for everyone to eat and they hardly ate it and left me with a whole cake. Next year, we will have Jello.  But, it tasted amazing. I liked it.

So glad you were born Phee-Phi! 

A Guymon Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Guymon clan. That morning we woke up and watched the Macy's Day Parade (my family tradition). This year, Nephi's birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving but we celebrated the next day, BUT wanted to do a little celebrating by making him breakfast.

Yep, that was his breakfast. Nephi rather have this than a home-made breakfast any day. He's really too easy sometimes. We spent the rest of the morning laying around and I made some food for the party, including this snazzy trifle. Turned out pretty good and it was really easy. Check out the recipe. 

We headed over to family party later that afternoon. It's a tradition in their family to have dinner and a ping-pong tournament at Danny & Devrie's home. We had a great meal, played a bajillion rounds of this game (so fun--highly recommend playing it), spent a lot of time talking and laughing and then of course fit in some shopping. 

Last year I went out for black friday with Nephi's aunt and cousins but this year Angie, Caitlin and I went out and had a very successful trip.

We have so much to be grateful for. Nephi and I will often just sit back and realize how much we truly have. We've been married for a year and a half and have learned and grown so much together. We live in a beautiful home, go to a great ward, and have good jobs. We've been blessed financially with everything we need and have had the chance to serve and help others. We live close to a temple and both have a quality education. We both have wonderful families who bless our lives near, and far. And of course we have the Gospel that obviously is the reason for all the blessings listed above.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Guilty as Charged

But why are we guilty as charged? Well, we would have to take you to back to the start of the weekend...

On Friday I spent the day in Jackson for work. We are having an event out there in February and we had to do a quick site-visit. We drove the company Subaru and within the first 15 minutes on the road, this happened.

Yikes! I was bending over to get something out of my purse and heard the noise and looked up to see this! Bah...oh well. Nothing we can do about it! And no, this was not the crime we committed.

I got home and Nephi and I headed out for a great date night to the Festival of Trees. Every year the community hosts this event and all the proceeds go towards a charity of choice. They have raffle tickets, treats, crafts, and trees for sale! Not to mention the prime entertainment...13 year old girls trying to harmonize was the highlight of our evening.

Afterwards we headed to Denny's for dinner (random) and ended our evening watching a made for TV, Christmas movie on Netflix. (Nephi's choice. I swear.) BUT, that isn't the crime we are guilty of, believe it or not.

Saturday morning Nephi headed to work and I got up and cleaned before I had the ladies over for a visiting teaching brunch. While cleaning, I blasted Christmas music.

Are you one of those people that hates on people who are already listening to Christmas music? I hope not. Because I am pretty sure that listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving does not mean you don't love Thanksgiving or that you aren't grateful--pretty sure commercialism takes care of that. 

No crime here.

We are excited to start playing Christmas music around, especially because...

WE ARE GOING TO AZ FOR CHRISTMAS!!

Yep, booked our flights this weekend. Originally we planned to stay here but some things got moved around so I finally decided to look at flights and it all worked out for us to leave on the 23rd and fly back on the 27th. We could not be more excited! I love Christmas in AZ and we can't wait to see my family!

Nephi came home from work and we headed to the gym and then ran some errands and I got this new lipstick. I've been looking everywhere for a dark burgendy for fall and I love it.

 We came home and he napped while I worked on this wreath for the door. My mom gave me the wreath on the left for Halloween decor but decided to re-purpose it for Christmas! Like it? So easy. I didn't even look at a tutorial. I just wrapped it around. It took about an hour but it was cheap and simple.

Is it a crime to craft while your hubby is napping?? OF COURSE NOT.

Now, to the scene of the crime.

 Yep, we saw Breaking Dawn. Guilty. As. Charged.

From the Mouths of Babes

Anyone know that video the church put out "From the Mouths of Babes"? My family LOVES that video and after teaching primary a few years ago for my first time, I can see why this video was made. Kids are SO funny!

We currently teach in the primary 4 year-olds that turned 5 this year. We've been in this calling since September and love it so much. We honestly look forward to going to church, and coming home exhausted. Our class started off with 4 cute girls and has evolved into 2 boys and 7 girls. We die over them. They are cute and not those snotty nose kids that you are scared to touch. If you hang out with us, then you have already heard of the kids because we always talk about them. Dear Bishop, don't release us!

Since they say so many funny things to entertain us, we thought we would share the wealth by blogging every Sunday with our very own "From the Mouth of Babes". Hope you enjoy!

K: You better watch out for my brother. He'll punch you in the face.
--
P: Guess what?! My Grandma is on a cruise....she has a new boyfriend.
--
K: Hurry up, hurry up! Cause it's fast Sunday!
--
K: Why is that boy crying? (Pointing at the sunbeam crying during his primary talk.)

Nephi: I don't think he likes talking in front of people.

K: I think he needs a dog.
--
Mallory: Alright everyone, what are you going to tell your parents you learned today?

Everyone: Read your scriptures! Go to church! Be reverent! 

K: (Raises her hand) Can I tell my parents something else? 

Mallory: Uhhhh....

P: Can I tell my parents, what's up dude!?!
--
D: I just need to check if the licorice is GLUTEN FREE!!
--
Nephi: They are going to pick me to go up there.

A: No, you're not going to get picked. You're a teacher!

Nephi: Yeah, yeah I am going to get picked.

A: NO! You're not! Your head is TOO BIG!
--
D: What's your name again?

Nephi: Brother Guymon

D: Oh yeah...I call you Brother Dixon.
--
Mallory: (Handing out candy) You get, what you get...

K: And you don't throw a fit!
--
(After Nephi does magic for the kids)

P: You're terrific!

Nephi: No, you're terrific!

P: Well...I am half princess, half cowgirl...
--
(About the watch "Finding Faith in Christ" video clip)

P: Oh, I have seen this before. It makes water come out of my eyes!
--

Stay tuned every Sunday for more funnies!! 

October Update

October came and went faster than I expected. We had a great month and I am going to spare you a lengthy blog post and share with you a few snippets with the photos we took! (Grateful for my iPhone.)

 Nephi gave me my flu shot! I haven't had one in years but decided to take the plunge and haven't had any bad side effects. 

 Of course we had General Conference. This was my favorite spin-off out of all of them. Classic. (Our thoughts on missionary work.)

 Nephi's Grandpa passed away on October 9th. The funeral was that next weekend and Nephi gave a great talk at the funeral. I also got to meet the Richin's side and that was so great. This was the first death that Nephi and I have gone through as a married couple and it was a good experience for us to learn from each other. Nephi was very close to his Grandpa. In fact, the day before he followed a prompting to go visit him--so grateful for the Gospel! It's been a while since I have attended a funeral and it was a beautiful funeral and the family paid a great tribute to him .

 Of course we had to carve pumpkins! We went on a big group date to the pumpkin patch with some friends and picked up pumpkins to carve.

Here are the pumpkins! I carved the "G" and Nephi carved the Gangnam Style guy to your right of the "G". It won for the "Stupidest" and I won "The Most Creative". HA! Pretty sure those awards should have be reversed.

 My family came in town for a few days! My Aunt Jeni was visiting the states from South Africa and I haven't seen her in years! She also hasn't met Nephi yet so they took a few days to come visit us. We went to Yellowstone, Snake Bite (of course), and visited campus. It was so great to have her here as well as my Mom, Dad, and Jack (our family dog)! It is always hard to see them go, especially since we are not coming home for the holidays this year. I am so grateful for them!

 And...they brought this! We have been saving up all year to buy a new car and we finally did! We set a goal to buy it in September but ended up purchasing in October. AZ had way more choices so we bought it there and then my Dad drove it up. He also did all the negotiating and research on the car which was a huge burden lifted off of us--thanks, Dad! It's a 2006 Mazda 3 with only 75k miles on it. It will be Nephi's car that he uses to commute back and forth to Rexburg. Yes, I am a little jealous. Don't worry--Nephi detailed my car so I would feel like I got a new car too :) Anyway-feels good to have our first "big" purchase under our belts and done! We bought it in cash and now we are looking to replenish the savings account...anyone wanna buy Nephi's Jeep?! It's going on Craigslist this week!

 Home decor--per usual. My dad built me this valance! I've been wanting one for a long time and I love it. I covered it with fabric, which was a lot harder than I expected. (Don't judge my imperfections.) But I really like it and it completed that room. I still have to fix up a few things throughout the house before we do a "house tour", but it's happening. Soon.

 Date nights! We've still manage to fit in our date nights every week. We are officially over the year and 1/2 mark but feel like we've been married forever! (In a good way.) We love our little adventures and definitely don't have enough time together but we make it work.

 Halloween is a HUGE deal where I work. Each department had a theme and decorated and we had kids walking through all day trick-or-treating. Our area was a forest so we had a "Girls Camp". It was a fun day!

We've been seeing some movies with friends lately, of course. We went and saw Pitch Perfect with the Cook's and LOVED IT! I even bought one of the sound tracks on our way home. Ha! It's a great song to work out to.

 I'm currently living "carb-free" and trying to find ways to enjoy food without getting bored! Hence, I use spaghetti squash for just about everything. This meal with chicken sausage, spinach, onions, peppers, and marinara sauce was divine! I highly recommend it.

 We went to the YURT! Yes, that is what it is called. Had a nice night stay at this yurt in Harriman Park with our good friends, the Hendersons. We had a blast! The next day we hiked around and visited Mesa Falls and a few other places along the way. We will definitely be returning! Who wants to come?

 This is the inside. It stayed toasty :)

 Our candlelit dinner..very primitive...not. I am working my way up to actual camping.

 I won $20 for the weight loss challenge at work! Woo!

Had a "Smith Family" early Thanksgiving. Sheridan won't be in town for Thanksgiving so we had it early. We won't be making it home to AZ for Thanksgiving (or Christmas) this year. Work for me is too demanding to leave for an extended amount of time but I am going to really embrace the holidays this year and Nephi and I are excited to start our own family traditions! I am so glad that Sheridan and Caitlin live here. We've got half the kids in Idaho now! Now we just need to get the other 3 here! :) 

And of course--our church calling. We missed two Sunday's in a row and realized how much we LOVE our kiddos! Today we taught them about Christ and spent some time explaining the resurrection. We told them to draw a picture of it and this is what one girl drew--me! See the resemblance?

The nice thing is that they love us, too! Their parents have been telling us that they talk about us all the time and hated the sub they had (we secretly loved to hear that). We look forward to seeing them every week. Stay tuned for our new blog series "From the Mouth of Babes".

Sorry this did turn into a long post...oh well!