Yummy!

You know how much I love to bake! I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Cake, and I made it last night. We loved it! It was like upside-down pumpkin pie. If you love pumpkin, try this recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

1 large can pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 dry yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 c. melted butter

Mix all ingredients (except cake mix, nuts, butter) and pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan. Sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin batter. Sprinkle walnuts over cake mix. Drizzle butter over all. Bake at 350 for 1 hour - no longer. Serve warm or cold with whip cream.

Notes from this tasty cooking experience:
*I didn't have enough ginger so I used pumpkin pie spice.
*My whole house smelled so delicious, we could harldy wait to try it.
*I left nuts off a third of the cake because my kids were whining about having nuts on it.
*We had a piece 45 minutes after it came out of the oven and it was still piping hot.
*After we were done, I stuck it in the fridge last night, and it was just as yummy cold (I had a piece for lunch) as it was hot. The topping had hardened a bit, which made it extra crunchy.

All of us loved this new spin on pumpkin pie. The nut topping is so yummy! I found the recipe in the South Jordan ward cookbook, and it's a recipe by Wendy Calder. Happy baking!

Healthy = Happy

WARNING - The following blog doesn't have any funny stories or cute pictures, just my opinion. Read further if you want.

As the weather turns colder and the sniffles and coughs start to creep into our lives, I have been researching and thinking about how to keep my family healthy this winter. With a baby in the house, the health of my family is a top priority. If Banana gets sick, there isn't anything I can do for her in the way of medicine. Everyone knows that sick kids are miserable, both them and the parents! The threat of different flus, including H1N1, is a huge concern for Chris and me.

We have made the decision to not give our kids any flu shots. There is a lot of pressure out here to have our whole family innoculated against the flu and H1N1 because we have a baby in our family. However, we feel strongly that these vaccinations are not the answer. We know we can prevent and treat illnesses through other methods. How? WASH YOUR HANDS! I'm sure my kids are sick of me saying this, but it's the best thing anyone can do to prevent illnesses. I also have a can of Lysol in strategic locations in the house.

We are also using essential oils a lot more. Many of you know that Chris and I have used oils for a while, and we are using them more than ever now. We believe that these oils will help in the prevention and treatment of illnesses. They are certified pure, therapuetic, and we use them for many different purposes. I feel good about using these natural oils for the benefit of my family. If you want to know more about the oils we use, let me know. I won't push them on anyone, but I will happily answer any questions and talk to anyone about the tremendous physical, emotional, and mental benefits of the oils. We owe a huge thanks to Chris' mom, Cathy, for her tireless efforts in sharing the oils with everyone and anyone and constantly supplying us with oils.

Just to clarify, we do give our kids the standard vaccines (MMR, polio, etc.), but we are not giving them any flu shots. For those of you who do get flu shots, it is your decision and I hope you don't think I am ridiculing you or questioning your judgement. This is just what we are doing for our family.

Ok, I am off my soapbox. The purpose of our blog is to share pics of the kids since we live far away from everyone, but for some reason I felt the need to do this post. I hope that everyone I love and care about stays healthy during the cold weather!

Leaves

We don't have any rakes, but the kids discovered that brooms work just as good, and you can play a mean air guitar with them. Apple, Blueberry, and Octimus Prime worked very hard at getting this pile together, and then they wouldn't jump in because they didn't want it to be ruined. Ha! We did stick Banana in the leaves, and she didn't cry or smile, she just layed very still.

Pumpkin Patch

I love Autumn! I love everything about this season - pumpkin cookies, football games on Saturdays, falling leaves, cooler days, soup, and so many other things. Two great holidays (and one birthday) are in Autumn, and we start by picking out the pumpkins. We went to a pumpkin patch and each of the kids got to choose a pumpkin. We wish we could have picked pumpkins out of mom and dad's garden!

Banana is growing so much! Here are some more recent pics...

Even though most of the pics are of her in the bouncer, we really do hold her a lot, believe me. Here she is in one of our favorite outfits "I love Daddy" (thanks Sandy and Ben!), and the rest of the kids want me to get one that says "I love ___" with each of their names. That way Banana doesn't play favorites in the family.

Banana's check-up

Little Banana had her 2-month check-up yesterday. Here are her stats:

11 lbs. (50th percentile)

24 inches long (95th percentile)

15 inches head circum. (25th percentile)

Yes, my baby is tall with a little head. Her doctor explained that as the brain grows, so grows the head. So does this mean that our little Banana has a smaller than average brain? I guess so. Greg and Kathryn, celebrate your kids' big noggins.

I thought she would weigh more, with her jowels, chin, and thunder thighs. I think the doctor's scale was wrong. It wasn't even an electronic scale. It was one of those old fashioned ones were the nurse had to move the metal lugs at the top for the scale to balance out. It's funny - all the exam rooms have computers, and my kid was weighed using a scale that hasn't been around since I was a kid. Hmmm...

She got three shots and one oral vaccine. Octimus Prime was with me, and he was wide-eyed as he watched the nurse give her the shots. I don't know if he was thinking "better her than me" or if he was secretly afraid that I had lied and he really was going to get one. She did well considering she was naked for half the visit, and was poked, prodded, and manhandled the whole time. At the end of the visit, the doctor announced that Banana was a healthy, beautiful baby, which we already knew.

Now for an update on her colic. She is slowly improving! She is starting to fall asleep earlier in the evenings, between 8-8:30, and she isn't screaming as much. Her behavior is more along the lines of fussing and crying. We know it's something she'll outgrow, and in the meantime, we are still trying everything we know to make her more comfortable. We are using the Mylecon drops, Gripe water, essential oils, and baby massage, all at different times with different results. Also, I've started to take probiotics, hoping that as they get into her system, they will help her. In my 8th month of pregnancy I took antibiotics for a skin infection, and we think that the drugs probably did some damage to the good stuff in her digestive system also.

Ok, enough about Banana. Here are some pictures!