Chili and lights

Saturday night our friends hosted a Chili cook-off party. Having never made chili before, I frantically searched through my myriad of cookbooks, trying to find the simplest yet most unique recipe. And finally, in some strange families' cookbook that I happened to have for some odd reason (a family I've never even heard of), I found a recipe that contained brown sugar. Booya. If it has sugar, it must be good. And let me tell you- it was awesome. We won 2nd place. You should be very sad that you didn't have any.

Here are some of the men anxiously awaiting the judging of the chili to come to an end. Since eating is what men like to do.


And here is Marley. He is like a miniature lion. I love him.

And here is Kennedy. She's all "Mo-ommm..." [whining] "I don't LIKE chili. Don't they have mac and cheese?" And I'm all "Nope. Eat it." Cause I'm a nice mom.


The party also had a white elephant gift exchange. Like most white elephant parties, there is a coveted gift. The one at this particular party was this:


It was like electric sex gleaming in the window. Justin nearly cried when it was stolen from him in the gift exchange game. Twice. And he wouldn't stop talking about it for like 3 days after. I think he's finally coming to terms with it. And although he didn't get the erotic light fixture, he got the next best thing: a freaky demonic-looking ceramic cat. With glowing green eyes. It scares me. So I have banned it to the confines of the basement.

I won a re-gifted gigantic flashlight. Because some stupid nincompoop stole the Jazz tickets from me.


And to make this post longer, since it's totally not long enough, I will tell you more about the goings-on in my life.

Sunday night we went to Temple Square with Justin's mother to see the lights.

They were spectacular, as always.

And then, quite unexpectedly, we were photobombed.
Dun dun dunnnnnn....

After said photobombing, we went on a carriage ride around the block. Kennedy was just beaming.

And just when she thought things couldn't get any better, the nice man who drove us around let her pet Jerry, the horse.

And since I probably won't post again until after Christmas, Merry Christmas to all of you!

Sneaky, sneaky.

Kennedy: So... Dad?
Dad: Yes?
K: Did anyone call you today?

D: Um... like who?

K: You know... like Julia, or Julia's mom... or maybe Sophie... or Sophie's mom... or someone like that?

D: Nope.

K: Oh, ok.

[extended silence...]

K: Dad?

D: Yes...?
K: Did Mrs. Shelton call you?

D: No..... why?

K: [quite nonchalantly] Well, Mrs. Shelton said she was going to call you because I got too many warnings today.

I seriously hope this isn't a sneak peak of what is to come.

Weekend update...and Kennedyisms.

At Kennedy's school they had a Christmas concert. She has been singing Christmas songs all around the house and it has been highly entertaining. And very cute.

Here she is singing as one of Santa's elves.


She then turns the hat around and magically becomes a reindeer with a red nose. Adorable.

She did such a good job that I rewarded her with what every woman wants:


(Now don't be fooled by the appearance of my generosity. I only gave her the spatula - I licked the entire bowl.)

And in turn, she was kind enough to share a few Kennedyisms with me, which I will now share with you:

[after fixing a broken guitar]
Dad: Who's the man!??
K: You. And who's the little kid??!?


K: I want a different name. I want to change it.
M: Really? What would you like to change it to?
Dad: Matilda?...
K: YES! Matilda! I want you guys to call me Matilda, now.


[I was talking on the phone and she heard me say something about "Texas"]
K: Hey! I know what Texas is! It's where squirrels live!!
(On "Spongebob" there is a squirrel who is from Texas...)


Alright, on with the updates of my electrifying life.

Saturday night we went to an "ugly sweater party." Justin amiably picked them out for us:

Justin looked like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber, and I looked like a relief society president (or, as my brother would say, "re-LEAF" society...).

We also had a white elephant gift exchange, and Chris won the present that we brought:

Yes, my friends. It even comes with a mustache.

Here's some stuff.

Oh, hey- remember Halloween? Like a hundred days ago? Well, it was actually an extremely eventful weekend. My mother came to town and we had a blast. If you'd like to read all about it (something I would highly recommend), you can do so here at my mother's blog. She wrote about our fun festivities using many beautiful pictures and some very lovely commentary. In the meantime, here's the one picture I actually took, that weekend:


Next, a sneak peak at what we've been doing to our house. Since we (a) are not currently living in the 1970's and (b) do not live in the hull of a ship in the middle of the ocean, we don't really need ugly faux wood paneling for the walls. Quick-fix solution: painting. Hopefully I will eventually get around to posting a picture of the before and after. No promises, though.


And lastly, tonight we went to a birthday party for our friend's little girl. Being so close to Christmas, they decided they'd invite Santa over. Kennedy couldn't believe that he would take time from his busy schedule to come to Sasha's birthday party. But he did.

Here she is waiting for Santa to park his sleigh... (you can't fake this kind of excitement, people.)


She climbed right up there on his lap and told him what she wanted. "Smencils" and "The Sword and the Stone" (movie). Santa has it pretty dang easy this year.


All Justin wanted for Christmas was to sit on Santa's lap. Wish granted.


The man in the suit was our good friend, who Kennedy just adores. Luckily she didn't figure out that it was him. She said "Mom, I can't believe that Santa is REALLY here!!"

...And now I feel like a total schmuck for lying to my child. Who started this stupid tradition of lying to our kids, anyway?

Short update

I have an abundance of pictures which have been taken, recently, that I will eventually put up on this blog. But not today. Due to my lack of time and also due to the fact that I'm at work and shouldn't really be blogging, anyway, today I will merely make a brief list what I have been up to as of late.

Working.

Thanksgiving.

Shopping.

Working.

Cleaning.

Painting.

Working.

Decorating.

Eating.

Not exercising.

Playing.

Loving.

Working.

What have you been up to?

Esquí.

Oh. You don't speak Spanish? Well that's ok. I speak it well enough to tell you that "esquí" means "ski". You're welcome.

On with the blog.

Justin is a super skilled snowboarder. Me? I suck. We want to teach Kennedy to snowboard (so she doesn't suck like me when she's older), but we've heard that it's easier for kids to start out on skis. So Justin took Kennedy skiing for the first time, yesterday . Me? Well, I couldn't go because I was at stupid work.

Here are some pictures from their adventure:




Justin said she skied like a pro. She loved it.
Justin also said she made him fall. A lot. He didn't love it.

But all in all they both had an awesome time. And since Justin works graveyard shifts, they can go any day they want. Me? I will be stuck at stupid work.

Annie is cool.

Even though I'm doing basically nothing (at all) to help my fellow struggling neighbors during this lame recession (I know- I'm a terrible person, I'm sorry), I'm so happy to know that other people are.

This evening I walked out onto my porch and saw a copy of the Sugar House Journal lying there on the ground, just waiting to be picked up. I have never read a copy of it in my entire life. Ever. Like- I usually pick it up and throw it at the neighbor (like I said- terrible person). But for some strange reason (boredom, probably) I decided to open it.

And there, on the front page, was a picture of our friend Jesse (Annie's husband) and their 2 kids. FRONT page. I've never been on the front page of a newspaper. Of course, I've never done anything very noteworthy, either, so I guess it makes sense.

Anyway, from reading the article I learned that Annie & Jesse have grown lots of produce this year and have given their excess to neighbors in need of food. They went as far as to put up flyers and everything. I think you should read the article [click here]. It's inspiring.

Thanks for helping out people in need, Annie! We need more people like you & Jesse in the world :)

Maybe I'll help those in need by giving all of Justin's junk to the D.I.